Thanks to the recycling efforts tied to the Newspaper Readership Program at the Penn State University Park campus, about $60,000 has been raised for a recycling scholarship that is part of the Board of Trustees Matching Scholarship Program.

The program, which was established in 2002, provides 5 percent matching funds for private gifts at or above the $50,000 endowment level.

Just recently, the Office of Physical Plant turned over a check for more than $8,000, the latest amount earned by the sale of recycled newspapers. Funds from the sale of recycled newspaper are matched by contributions from Penn State's newspaper partners, so the most recent contributions would total $16,763.36, according to Al Matyasovksy, supervisor of central support services and refuse and recycling.

Students benefit twice from the Newspaper Readership Program -- first, by becoming better-informed citizens by reading newspapers and, secondly, because the program returns money in the form of scholarships. So far, seven scholarship awards have been made over the course of the three years that this scholarship has been active, according to Kelly Snyder, director of major gifts for undergraduate scholarship. The average awards are $2,000.

Last year, Penn State students read more than a million newspapers -- The New York Times, USA Today and at University Park, the Centre Daily Times. That translates into 1.6 tons of used newspapers collected daily by the Office of Physical Plant (OPP).

OPP has some 2,900 recycling bins scattered across the University Park campus, located in virtually every academic and administrative building, and has situated four large, roll-off facilities in the resident quads as well.

Those papers are transported to Superior Onyx Waste in DuBois, which bales and markets them. The papers are marketed nationally and recycled into products such as newsprint, compost, insulation material and fiber paper manufacturing, such as pressed board boxes.

"I'm going to suggest that the majority goes back into newspapers because of the quality and cleanliness of the capture," Matyasovsky said.

Since the program's inception in 1997, OPP has collected some 1,437 tons of newspaper. To put that into perspective, Matyasovsky noted that the tonnage translates to 4,394 cubic yards of landfill space -- or enough newspaper to cover the football field in Beaver Stadium with newspapers to a depth of 31 inches.

The program offers a number of other positive environmental impacts.

"The fact that we're recycling saves resources, keeps materials out of landfills and saves the University tipping fees," Matyasovksy said. "It's cheaper to handle recyclables than to handle refuse."

Since the program began, Matyasovsky provided figures that show the tonnage of recycled newspapers has resulted in 24,420 trees saved, 9.9 million gallons of water saved, 664,868 gallons of oil saved and 842,932 pounds of air pollution prevented from reaching the atmosphere.

It also translates into a savings of almost 6 million kilowatt hours of energy. The energy, water, and oil would have been used in the production of new paper, and the air pollutants would have been the byproduct of that production.

"I think that the readership program has heightened awareness about applied waste management," Matyasovksy said, adding that the program's success has allowed them to explore other recycling initiatives.

11/18/2005