Thanks to a new newspaper recycling initiative, Iowa State students won’t have to wade through papers when making their way to their lecture hall seats.

The program, developed by the Student Environmental Council, sets out to promote newspaper recycling and to quell newspaper litter in buildings on campus that distribute the most newspapers.

Amy Duin, head of the SEC recycling committee, said the committee has been formulating the recycling plan for over a year and a half. The plan was submitted in late November and was approved by Vice President for Business and Finance Warren Madden earlier this month. The university gave $2,400 to SEC, which is enough to pay for the project this spring and summer.

Fresh Aire Delivery Service, 216 N. Hazel Ave., will be paid to collect the newspapers.

Duin, senior in political science and environmental studies, said a lot of research went into the project, including looking at recycling programs at other land-grant universities.

“Most land-grant universities have [newspaper] recycling programs,” she said. “ISU is very far behind.”

SEC Vice President Kelly Wilkening said she was shocked to find that ISU did not have a newspaper recycling system on campus until now.

“Recycling is not only going to reduce waste, but it will also give something back to the Earth that we take for granted,” she said.

Wilkening said she hopes students will make recycling newspapers a habit, especially with the large amount of newsprint made available on campus.

Steven Van Ginkel, member of the recycling committee, hopes that the new program will get students to recycle.

“Now that the project is in place, we need students’ cooperation more than ever,” he said.

Wilkening said an estimated 5,000 trees could be saved annually in the Ames community if every newspaper was recycled. Recycling newsprint would also remove an estimated 18,000 pounds of air pollutants, she said.

The American Forest and Paper Association states that one ton of recycled paper uses 64 percent less energy, 50 percent less water, produces 74 percent less air pollution, saves 17 trees and creates five times more jobs than one ton of paper products from virgin wood pulp.

The ISU recycling committee is optimistic about the program’s longevity and hopes enough funds will be amassed to continue the program beyond this summer.

“The hopes of this project is to set in place a campuswide newspaper recycling project that will remain on campus over the years to come,” Van Ginkel said.

Students can throw their newspapers in recycling bins which will be located next to the newspaper stands at Parks Library and Carver, Pearson, Physics, Beardshear and Bessey Halls.