JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Some local college students spent their Wednesday morning trashing their campus, but officials at the University of North Florida didn't mind.

It's part of an effort aimed at raising awareness of what's being thrown out and what it does to the environment.

The effort is called Garbage on the Green, and this is the third year in a row the university has held the event.

The idea is to collect and measure how much trash is being properly or improperly thrown away on campus.

"What we're conducting here primarily is a waste audit, where we categorize and we quantify the waste and recycle material here at UNF in effort to get a diversion rate, meaning a percentage of the material that is not supposed to go in the landfill," program manager April Moore said.

The number of students who volunteered to help sort through the trash more than doubled this year.

"There's more of a pride, an Osprey pride that the students demonstrate, not only in the campus community, but when this material leaves the campus," Moore said.

Organizers said having the event each year raises awareness among everyone on campus of the goals the university is trying to promote.

They said that simply increasing the use of recycling bins will make a big impact.

"You increase your recycling efforts at home or in your dorm room or in your office; collectively, that amounts to a lot and that makes a difference," Moore said.

During the 2008-2009 fiscal year, the campus recycled more than 580,000 pounds of trash and other material.