Imagine paying $100,000 for a service you do not use. It may sound far-fetched, but NIU students pay every day for a recycling program they let go to waste.

Every year, NIU pays $80,000 to $100,000 for the program only to find that more material gets tossed into the garbage and not the recycling bins, according to a Northern Star article. And even when students do recycle, they sometimes put items in the wrong bins.

The recycling program, now a four-bin system for garbage, paper, bottles and cans, was first introduced through the efforts of NIU students in 1976.

Almost 20 years later, the Student Association took on a $70,000 debt to start the program.

Looking back at how much effort went into the starting the program, it seems hardly possible that something of such great concern could be taken so much for granted now.

Yet, the program is largely neglected by a student population who refuses to take a half-second look to read the label on the bin and put forth a little extra effort to make this world a better place. Retrieving bottles from the paper bin is a pain for grounds workers and misplaced items can render a bin full of items unrecyclable.

The irresponsible behavior of a few individuals can undermine the good actions of many.

Who knows what may be the cause of this negligence? Perhaps students simply are not educated on the importance of recycling.

The biggest problem may be that recycling is not a part of the student’s life at home. When they do not practice recycling at home, it is more difficult to make the practice second nature at school.

Although it may seem that recycling has no direct effect on a student’s life, the issue of waste and recycling has an effect on everyone.

For example, the habits students develop during college are likely to carry through the rest of their adult lives.

Learning to recycle now puts NIU’s money to good use and benefits the environment. Taking a moment to be careful with waste now can save an immeasurable amount of time, money and stress in the future.