Penn State Intercom......February 1, 2001
Readership program recycling
efforts benefit scholarship fund
By Amy Neil
Public Information
The
University's general scholarship fund is $22,750 richer, thanks to the
recycling efforts for the Newspaper Readership Program at the University
Park campus.
Since the inception of the readership program in 1997, 695 tons of newspapers (The New York Times, USA Today, Centre Daily Times and The Daily Collegian) have beenrecycled. Al Matyasovsky, operations supervisor for the Office of Physical Plant (OPP), has calculated the recycling capture rate to be around 65 percent.
"This is an amazing number and makes the newspaper readership program the most successful recycling program on campus," he said.
The recycled newspapers, collected by OPP, are marketed by Superior Waste Services of DuBois, which donates a portion of the profits to the University's general scholarship fund. The New York Times, USA Today and Centre Daily Times offer matching contributions.
"Although University Park is the only campus that is generating scholarship dollars, students at all campuses benefit from the scholarship money," said Matyasovsky.
Students
at the University Park campus read a daily total of more than 7,000 copies
of The New York Times, USA Today and Centre Daily Times.
More than 1.5 tons of newspaper are recycled each day -- twice as much
as last year -- and has produced enough material to cover the entire Beaver
Stadium football field with newspapers 15 inches deep. It has also saved
11,815 trees and 2,085 cubic yards of landfill space, according to Matyasovsky.
William Asbury, vice president for student affairs, approached Matyasovsky before the readership program began, and asked if he had any concerns about the increased amount of newspapers on campus. Matyasovsky said he did express the need for an infrastructure and special process to collect this potentially large amount of papers. Surprisingly, OPP did not have to hire additional workers for the collection efforts.
"Because of the reduced hauling time to the county recycling facility, we were able to adjust our schedules to use existing manpower," he said. "This, and process improvements, have satisfied the challenge of the additional papers."
OPP has taken addition steps to encourage participation in University Park's recycling efforts. Specially designed signs and posters are located throughout campus, and mouse pads with recycling information are in all campus computer labs. A 24-hour automated hot line with information on the University's recycling program also is available at (814) 865-8000.
The Newspaper Readership Program, initially offered to students living in campus residence halls at University Park and eight othercampuses, was expanded last fall to offer free newspapers -- The New York Times, USA Today and a daily paper from the local community -- to all students at 20 campuses with undergraduate programs.