For Nicole Conde, a campus effort that focuses on recycling is a smart idea.

Conde, a sophomore majoring in nursing, said she can’t make sense of people disposing of a lot of products instead of recycling.

“How are you going to find anything negative about recycling?” Conde said.

Last month, the University saw almost a 48,000 pound increase compared to August 2017, when total pounds recycled was 344,340, according to a UA monthly recycling report from 2016 to 2017.

Tony Johnson, senior executive director of logistics and support services, said the University recycled 195 tons – almost 400,000 pounds – in the month of August.

According to this year’s report, 13,784 trees, 308,120 gallons of oil, 3,243,364 kilowatts of energy and 5,675,887 gallons of water were saved based on total paper recycled as of Aug. 31.

“I appreciate all the people that recycle on our campus,” Tony Johnson said. “I can’t thank the students, faculty and staff enough for what they do. That’s the reason we did 195 tons for the month of August.”

To continue recycling efforts on Saturday, the Go Green Gameday Recycling Initiative set up shop on the southwest corner of the Quad as the center for game-day recycling.

While she waited for the game to start, Conde stopped by the tent to toss the bottle she’d been drinking from into one of the bins inside.

“If we’re going to use so much disposable products, we should at least attempt to recycle them,” Conde said.

The initiative was active on the Quad from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. before the game on Saturday.

Recycling employees made rounds to the different tailgating tents and the fraternity section to pick up cans and other recyclables. The employees then brought them back to the Go Green section so they could be taken to a warehouse.

Bags for recycling were also handed out around the Quad.

“We’re trying to get our students to recycle more,” said Hazel Johnson, the facilities associate who assists with UA Recycling.

Overall, Hazel Johnson said the goal of the initiative is to get students engaged in recycling to promote a green campus.

“We want everyone to go green,” Hazel Johnson said. “It’s not actually hard to recycle.”

For students who stopped by to take pictures with Go Green’s recycling bins, free shirts, hats and buttons were handed out.

Students could also swap bags full of clean recycling, such as plastic or aluminum, for free items.

“We get a lot of our recycling out of the football stadium before game day,” Tony Johnson said. “They’ve been stocking and filling up the concession stands for a couple weeks now, so we pick up that cardboard and plastic before game day ever happens.”

Students should recycle because it is the right thing to do, and it reduces the amount of trash that goes into landfills, Tony Johnson said.

He said if landfills overflow, then new ones will be built. Since landfills can hold only so much volume, another goal of the initiative is to prolong the life of current landfills through recycling.

“It’s just the right thing to do for our generation and generations to come,” Tony Johnson said.

The initiative’s crew gets back together to pick up more trash and recycling on Sunday morning after game days.

“People think it won’t affect you,” Conde said. “Like ‘Oh, the Great Pacific garbage patch. Why should I care?’ Eventually it’s going to come back to get you.”