Despite having the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” drilled into my brain since grade school, I often throw recyclable materials away instead of taking time to recycle.

However, this semester I decided to change that.

As a journalism student I read multiples newspapers each day. Recycling them was my first step. I place them in a box at home, and when it starts to overflow, I take them to the recycling bins.

I have recycled eight pounds of newspapers so far this semester, and that led to a question:

How many pounds of newspapers have been thrown away this year just within the University community?

The UGA recycling Web site said 65 percent of waste on campus is paper, which is recyclable.

Andrew Lentini, the recycling coordinator at UGA, said 37 percent of campus waste was recycled in the last fiscal year.

That means UGA sent at least 2,583 tons of recyclable materials to landfills instead of recycling them. Handling each ton cost the University $37.77. That means the University spent somewhere around $97,555 on unnecessary disposal recyclable materials.

If all of us had recycled these materials rather than throwing them in the trash, the University would have saved this money.

And earned revenue from recycling the materials.

Last year the University made $233,436 from the 3,381 tons of materials that it did recycle.

In these difficult financial times, here is something we can all do to help the university save money: put recyclable materials into bins provided throughout campus.

There are 10 sites with large containers and numerous small containers in most buildings on campus. If you are aware of a building that does not have recycling containers, notify Andrew Lentini at alentini@uga.edu or 706-542-3152. The Physical Plant will distribute bins to campus locations upon request.

I think the Physical Plant should place bins at each newspaper distribution site on campus. Maybe this will help encourage students to recycle their papers, or at least the thousands of inserts that always end up in the trash cans beside the newspaper bins.

- Sara Williams is a senior from Eatonton majoring in newspapers and art photography.