Students in the residence halls can look forward to seeing the recycling bikers pedal by their doors because of a new contract the university has signed.

In an attempt to save the environment and students time, Fresh Air Delivery Service was granted a contract to collect all recyclable materials from the residence halls on campus.

Dennis Ethington, manager of residence hall materials, said the contract went into effect on Oct. 1, and the service will start as soon as Fresh Air delivers the bins to the residence halls.

Fresh Air Delivery Service began in 1991 by John Gregory. Co-owner, Joan Stein, said Gregory started the bike service because he “felt that a lot of people were doing things that could be done on a bike.”

The business started out as a grocery delivery service and added the recycling aspect the following year, Stein said.

Stein said the business currently has 10 employees but will add 15-20 when they begin collecting at the residence halls.

“We will be looking for more people to ride for us,” Stein said.

The business collects recyclable materials for a fee and takes them to the Ames Area Recycling Center. Fresh Air collects newspapers, glass, metal, plastic and magazines.

“We like the fact that they’re on bicycles because they aren’t adding any pollution to the air,” said Karen Kellogg, the manager of residence hall maintenance.

Kellogg is also involved with the student recycling committee on campus and said that it was their idea to contact Fresh Air.

“The student committee worked on a proposal for a long time last semester to give to the director,” Kellogg said.

She said the plan is to put four bins on each floor in the residence halls. Fresh Air already had contracts with 47 floors prior to the new contract, and the remaining floors had done the recycling on their own.

“It will be more convenient for students,” Kellogg said.

Angie Olson, a sophomore in Oak Hall, said the recycling is more organized this year because last year “the recycling chair on the floor was actually the one who took it to the recycling place.”

The news was well received by many of the residents in Elm Hall.

“It will make a huge difference,” said Amy Stites, a junior in elementary education. “There needs to be more availability of recycling containers for the use of students and other people on campus.”

Stites said she sees a need for recycling bins around campus, as well as in the residence halls.

“It needs to be done because I’ve noticed a lot of people have, in the years past, just been throwing their pop cans in the garbage cans. And with as many pop cans as students go through, I’d say it was something that was definitely needed.”

Mandy Wisniewsky, a freshman living in Elm Hall, said she used to recycle before she became a student at ISU.

“I used to recycle in high school, but my high school had boxes where you could just throw it in there at random. The university doesn’t have anything like that,” Wisniewsky said.

The student recycling committee on campus plans to do something about that, Gloria Erickson, a program assistant for Facilities Planning and Management and a member of the ISU Recycling Committee, said.

“Our biggest problem probably is funding to expand campus recycling,” Erickson said.