The recycling trend seems to ebb and flow, especially amongst high school students. One year its en vogue to separate paper, glass and metal and the next year their environmentalism is all but forgotten.

But for one Auburn teen, recycling has never been a fad. For 16-year-old Elly Rohrer and her family, recycling is just a way of life and one that she wants to introduce to her classmates at Auburn High School.

A number of student groups at AHS have hopped on the recycling wagon over the years, said county environmental engineer Bruce Natale. But none have lasted for one reason or another, mostly to do with waning student response and district economic concerns.

If Rohrer has her way, the sophomore's recycling initiative will stick and hopefully be implemented for years to come.

"It's not a difficult process, but no one makes the effort," Rohrer said of recycling.

She came to the idea through her work as a sophomore class student government representative. The group brainstormed fund-raising ideas and the usual bottle and can recycling drive was suggested. But after a chat with her mother, Eileen McHale, Rohrer proposed a school-wide paper recycling project.

"None of the schools recycle anything but cardboard and I thought definitely something should happen," she said.

So Rohrer did her homework and contacted representatives from the city and the county to gauge the efficacy and potential of a recycling program. Natale and city sanitation supervisor Mike Talbot directed Rohrer to Gary Hurd of Finger Lakes Recycling.

Hurd worked out a deal with Rohrer similar to the one he has with the Weedsport School District. He supplied the bins and collects and processes the paper as a free service to the school. Hurd said in one school year, the recycling program saved Weedsport $1,500.

Despite the economic benefit of recycling, Hurd said people are reluctant to make the effort.

"It's easier to throw everything in the garbage. People just don't want to recycle," he said.

Hurd estimates that he collects between 1,500 and 1,800 pounds of paper a week from Weedsport schools. With a landfill tipping fee of $52 a ton, recycling has definitely proved to be a cost-saving measure for Weedsport.

Rohrer is hoping the same will happen at AHS. But if the fledgling recycling program is to catch, it's going to need more than Rohrer behind it. But at the moment, bar a few teachers and fellow students, Rohrer is doing all the work herself.

"I kind of just did this all by myself," Rohrer said.

Not that she wants credit for the program. Rohrer just wants people to be aware of their own wastefulness and consumerism just as she has become.

The plucky teenager who is somewhat of an old soul by adolescent standards, spent the first nine years of her life in Vevey, Switzerland. It was there, her mother Eileen McHale said, that Rohrer first got a taste of living simply.

"They knew how to make things last there. You really think twice about throwing stuff away there. It's just a different lifestyle," McHale said.

Rohrer said she was shocked when she moved to the States and saw the waste and hyper-consumerism that often defines Americans.

"Our family has always looked down on wastefulness. Americans don't realize how much they have and how much they waste," Rohrer said.

Currently, the Auburn School District only recycles cardboard. Natale, the county environmental engineer, said the schools used to recycle, but the market for recycled products fluctuated and the landfill costs dropped. Economically, there was no reason for the schools to pay for someone to haul the recyclables away.

That's why Rohrer hopes her deal with Herd will work. All the school has to agree to is 150 boxes placed in classrooms. The janitorial staff will have to collect them and empty the boxes into provided receptacles, something Herd has seen as an issue before.

But Natale sees this program as a benefit to schools, despite the initial aggravation of sorting and collection.

"Every pound they keep out of the dumpster they're saving money. They school could even move to a smaller dumpster and save even more," he said. "Plus, hopefully it's teaching kids about saving both money and the environment."

For McHale, it's no surprise that her daughter would become involved with this project. Rohrer is just taking the family ethos and opening it up to a larger population.

"We're very proud of her. She'll take the initiative and do things," McHale said.

If Rohrer's recycling program, which is set to begin sometime in May, succeeds at AHS, she would like to expand it to all the schools in the district. All it takes is a little effort, Rohrer believes, and the willingness of students and faculty to make it work.

"We just need one program in the high school to set the example," she said. "We can show that recycling is completely within our reach."