FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) – It won’t be found in a class prospectus, but a group of students at Colorado State University spent much of Wednesday going through piles and piles of garbage.

It’s part of a program to increase recycling and composting on campus while eliminating as much garbage as possible.

Student volunteers wanted to show how many recyclables were being thrown away. They went through 24 hours-worth of garbage from the dining and residence halls.

“I hope as students go past and they sort of see this pile of trash, and they see that it’s such a short period of time; and this is a representation of it that it’s somewhat overwhelming to them and maybe an emotional connection can be made, to say, ‘Hey, I can do a better job in my own personal life,’ ” said Tim Broderick, CSU Sustainability Coordinator.

The results won’t be available until Thursday, but last year’s audit found 62 percent of what was thrown away could have been recycled or composted.