Despite ample opportunity, students continue to toss items that could be recycled.

Recycling preserves our resources, reduces our landfills and saves energy. In fact, decreases in waste production have actually been attributed to recycling efforts statewide, according to a report by the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources.

So why are some N.C . State students still not recycling?

A waste audit conducted last year showed that 25 to 30 percent of landfill waste on campus, at certain residence halls, could still have been recycled.

Elizabeth Sielatycki , a junior in social work, said she thinks there is a huge grey area in the system.

“I think that it’s not all that easy for many students to distinguish what they can recycle because it often varies between cities or states,” Sielatycki said. “So if a student has in their possession something other than an aluminum can or plastic bottle, they may just be uncertain in what to do with it.”

State law has actually prohibited plastic bottles from being disposed of in landfills since 2009.

Recycling these plastic bottles have not only proven to be beneficial to the earth but to the economy as well.

Scott Mouw , section chief for the Environmental Assistance and Outreach division of the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, verified this.

“We’ve done recycling job studies five times since 1995 and all of them have shown increases in jobs in recycling in North Carolina,” Mouw said. “The last study showed a five percent increase in recycling through the last recession, so recycling grew even despite the downturn in the economy. We also saw the number of recycling businesses increase during that time.”

“Our office, as well as NCDENR , coordinated a flash mob on the Brickyard to promote the plastic bottle ban [in 2009],” Analis Fulghum , education and outreach coordinator for the Waste Reduction and Recycling department, said.

Yet recycling bottles on campus is not readily enforced.

“Since it is law, we can potentially get fined,” Fulghum said. “But there’s no way the Waste Reduction and Recycling office can enforce it. We rely on the community and by putting labels on the bins on campus.”

A study done by California State University said a major barrier for students not recycling is convenience, Fulghum added.

A new website for the Waste Reduction and Recycling Office, will be launched in the upcoming weeks, according to Fulghum . It will include information on how to distinguish what is recyclable and where it can be recycled.

Students now have the option to recycle items that were previously in that grey area.

“We will be promoting the new E-Recycling bins that have just been introduced to residence halls,” Fulghum said.  ”The E-Recycling bins are for small electronics and computer peripherals.”

Still, many people are just not aware of how recycling advances sustainability, Sielatycki added.

 ”[Students] often aren’t informed about why exactly recycling is so important and the amount of energy it can save,” Sielatycki said.

Recycling is actually a powerful way to protect the environment since it reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Recycled material saves on energy consumption, which also keeps costs in production down, Mouw said.

More than 29 million tons of materials were combusted for energy recovery in 2010, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency.

One student argues that the lack of recycling on campus is result of something else entirely.

“There are places around campus to drop your recyclables off, so I don’t see why [students] wouldn’t do it,” Allison Keller, a non-degree student in the NC TEACH program, said. “I would think maybe it’s just out of laziness.”

As of the 2009-2010 year, there were 221 outdoor recycling sites, 578 indoor recycling sites, 2,127 tons of material recycled and 694 tons of yard waste saved from landfills, according to the campus sustainability website.

“People nowadays should know to recycle. It’s 2012–it’s everywhere,” Keller said.

The Waste Reduction and Recycling Office aspires to have a 60 percent diversion rate – percent of waste materials diverted from the landfill to be either recycled, composted or reused – by 2015, an increase from our 45.5 percent diversion rate in 2010, Fulghum added.