One of the easiest things to take up in the effort to be more sustainable is to recycle. Most college campuses now offer at least somewhere to take your recyclable materials. My college actually provides several bins for recyclables in each living unit and academic building and collects everything at least once a week. Find out where on campus you can take your recyclable items and then do so!

Never throw away aluminum cans, plastic or glass bottles, newspapers, paper from class, cardboard from your cereal boxes, or any plastic that can be recycled.

This is a fairly easy, effective concept that can be overlooked. The place I worked over the summer did not have one recycling bin on the whole campus. The apartment building I lived in did not have any recycling available, and the person I lived with simply didn’t recycle. We can save landfill space and reuse materials just by recycling all that we can.

If you live in a state with a recycling program that gives you back some cash for turning in bottles, take advantage of it! Although it’s technically not that much money, it’s still money you didn’t have before.

Some other ways to save money – albeit indirectly from recycling – is simply to cut back on what you purchase. Get a reusable water bottle so you don’t buy so much bottled water. Think twice about buying that can of soda – your wallet, your health, and the world will thank you for it. Think about your purchases before you make one, and you will be helping not only yourself but also the planet.

About this Contributor: Maria Schwartzman is a senior computer science major with a Spanish minor at a small liberal arts school in Indiana. She’ll be writing a lot about how to save money by living a sustainable lifestyle! Check out her website and then follow her on Twitter.