The Government of the Student Body decided to form a student committee to examine environmental issues affecting Iowa State.

GSB off-campus senator Lori Neuman-Lee, senior in biology, said the new commission, called the Student Environmental Committee, was created to look at issues such as air and water quality on campus, but the primary focus of the group would be recycling.

Neuman-Lee said recycling on campus needs to improve and could use a “total overhaul.”

“Right now recycling is more of an individual thing,” she said.

“It needs to be more centralized so it’s more visible and easily accessible.”

She said the group plans to raise awareness on the necessity of recycling and produce a cost-benefit analysis of recycling here on campus.

Neuman-Lee said she hoped a final report could be finished sometime during the spring semester.

The Student Environmental Committee would consist of seven senators, and she urged any students concerned with environmental issues to join the committee as well.

She said the next step for the committee is to gather information, conduct student surveys and submit an action plan for the group at the GSB meeting on Nov. 30.

Funding for the committee is still being looked at, but most of it would come from the GSB, different colleges and outside sources, such as grants, she said.

“We’re going to work very hard; we will be very dedicated,” Neuman-Lee said.

Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance, said recycling could always improve, but he would have to see the committee’s report before he could comment further on any possible recycling initiatives.

Often, students don’t recycle because of the lack of receptacles on campus.

“If there was a place to put glass bottles I would definitely use it,” said Marilee Goff, senior in marketing.

Elizabeth Vanderah, junior in biology, said she would like to see more recycling opportunities at Iowa State.

“On campus, I find myself throwing away pop cans because I don’t see a place to put them,” Vanderah said.

Presently, Iowa State has several campus wide-recycling programs. Cardboard is recycled at certain campus buildings and picked up by the Ames Area Redemption Center for free.

The university also places several bins throughout campus to collect newspapers, white paper and phonebooks for recycling.

Stacy Warren, manager of the Ames Area Redemption Center, said the center only picks up cardboard and does not have any city pickup routes for recyclable material because they do not have enough manpower for additional services.

People can bring recyclable materials such as aluminum, tin, milk jugs, magazines, plastic bags and office paper to the redemption center for processing, located at 1822 E. Lincoln Way, Warren said.