WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat Regional development senior Helen Ubiner, left, and Brian Neufang, a theater arts freshman, learn about composting at a recycling fair held on the Mall yesterday afternoon.

The smell of newsprint and bottled detergent emanated from the 1,000-pound bales of compacted recyclable materials placed around the Mall yesterday as part of America Recycles Day.

UA administrators and Tucson city officials, who were on the Mall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. yesterday, stressed the importance of proper recycling practices.

About 1,000 people walked by, asking questions and viewing displays, said Alana Levine, program coordinator of recycling and waste management.

This year's theme for the event was "Recycling Essentials," which focused on recycling at the UA. Basic information such as what to do with recyclable materials was presented.

"Our job at the event was and still is to educate how people can better utilize the campus recycling program," Levine said.

The city of Tucson was present to educate people about what can and cannot be recycled in the blue recycling barrels.

Some people move into the city coming from places where they may have recycled certain items but can't recycle them here. There's not a standard education about recycling across this seasonal population, so we saw a need to change that, said Wilson W. Hughes, waste reduction planner of the city of Tucson.

"We educated people left and right," he said.

Displays showed how glass bottles are crushed and used for creating asphalt. Pencils made of blue jean scraps were given away. Bags of insulation made from old, chopped up phonebooks were also available.

Posters showed how paper is shredded, fluffed, pulped and made into new sheets. Cups, bags, folders, and carpet that had been made out of ground-up plastic bottles were also on display. According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control's Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling, half of all polyester carpet made in the United States is from recycled plastic.

Staff from Tucson Clean and Beautiful answered questions about what kinds of items to recycle, when recycling day is, and where people can sell cans or donate furniture, said B.J. Cordova, recycling education and community outreach coordinator.

Tucson Organic Gardeners educated people about turning kitchen scraps into compost for gardens, thereby recycling and saving space at the landfills, said Mary Jane Schumacher, a member of Tucson Organic Gardeners.

Robert Wild, president of the Arizona Student Recycling Association, helped set up the displays. ASRA is a student recycling group that tries to get the UA to use more recycled paper and sponsors petitions to get companies to offer free computer recycling.

Last year, recycling programs in the residence halls were cancelled for a few months but are now up and running again.

"It's important to keep it now that we have it back," said James Libbon, a molecular and cellular biology and operations management sophomore.

Libbon is the recycling chair for Yuma Residence Hall.

"I'm big on recycling and environmental issues," he said.

Libbon's basic duties are to notify people where and what to recycle and change out the bags of materials two to three times a week, taking them to Maricopa's trash cage where Residence Life picks them up.

The UA recycling program officially began in 1990. The city of Tucson started the blue barrel program about a year ago. During the fiscal year 2002 - 2003, the UA Recycling Office recycled about 825 tons of materials.

For more recycling info, dial the hotline: 791-5000 or go to tucsonrecycles.org.

The 2003 Tucson/Pima County Reduce-Reuse-Recycle Directory is located at: http://www.cityoftucson.org/tcb/rd/;, and includes where to drop off items such as refrigerators and chemicals.