Students taking advantage of the Newspaper Readership Program at University Park have more to gain than just a free daily newspaper. Revenue earned from recycling newspapers is given directly back to Penn State in the form of scholarships.

"There is a contract with Superior Waste Services (of Pennsylvania) to market Penn State newspapers and they have agreed to return a certain amount of money for a scholarship," said Al Matyasovsky, supervisor of central support services for the Office of Physical Plant. "It comes from the sale of the newspapers and the check is sent back by Superior Waste."

In addition to the sum received from Superior Waste Services, The New York Times, USA Today and Centre Daily Times offer matching contributions between the three of them.

The actual process of recycling the university's newspapers is not as grandiose and difficult as one might think, said Ed Yahner, area manager for Superior Waste Services. Only certain newspapers are recycled in this program, such as the newspapers collected from recycling bins around campus and the extra papers in the racks at the end of the day.

University employees load old newspapers into large containers provided by Superior Waste Services. Superior then collects the material from the containers and moves it to a loading area, where it is removed on an "as-needed" basis, Yahner said.

"It's a very simple program," Yahner said.

After removing and trucking the newspaper to Superior's recycling center in Brockway, it is unloaded, cleaned, processed into bales and sold to large recycling companies.

"We sell the paper to recycling companies, and then rebate the proceeds to the university," Yahner said.

In addition to the newspaper racks located throughout university dormitories, classrooms and public buildings, 27 ID+ card access machines were placed on campus to increase circulation.

Making students recycle their old newspapers was another concern of program administrators.

"There are a lot of things we've done to get the word out," Matyasovsky said.

OPP attempted to encourage students to recycle their newspapers by advertising with posters, banners, cups, logo-embroidered patches and other free gifts.

The program itself is the most successful recycling program on campus, according to a Penn State news release.

The total amount of dollars given for the scholarship fund has also been growing each year.

"It has increased from one year to the next. It's a pretty hefty scholarship," Yahner said.

Matyasovsky expressed satisfaction about the university's recycling advancements in the past few years.

"We have a plethora of programs here," Matyasovsky said. "If you have something to throw away, we're looking for a place to put it besides the landfill option."