Eudora ? If you’ve got recyclable paper trash, Eudora Middle School wants it.

Eighth-graders Kelsey Epperson, Megan Ballock and others on the student council said Thursday that they’ve launched a communitywide paper-recycling program to promote environmental awareness and help raise money for school projects.

Eudora Middle School eighth-grade student council members Megan Ballock, left, and Kelsey Epperson put materials for recycling in a collection bin outside their school. The students helped to start a community paper-recycling program to help fund school events.

“It’s a good way to get everybody involved from little kids to retired people,” Epperson said.

Council members, with the endorsement of Principal Don Grosdidier, reached agreement with Deffenbaugh Recycling to place two large blue bins on the school campus for collection of newspapers, magazines, office papers and computer paper.

The company will pay the council about $25 for each load of paper, Grosdidier said.

“There hasn’t been much in terms of recycling offered in this community,” he said. “The fact that the kids were willing to look into it and do the leg work was a great thing.”

The program isn’t large enough to include plastic, glass, food containers or telephone books, said Kathy Cox, the council’s faculty sponsor.

Proceeds of the drop-off recycling program will be spent on dances, field trips and other activities beneficial to seventh- and eighth-graders at the Eudora school.

Ballock said the program might encourage more people to get in the habit of recycling.

“The whole town can be part of it,” she said.

On average, each American contributes three to five pounds of trash to the nation’s waste stream every day. Paper makes up about 41 percent of the waste.

Americans use 50 million tons of paper every year, requiring about 850 million trees for paper production. But recycled paper requires 30 to 50 percent less energy to make than paper made from trees.