After its start in December, Champaign’s first multi-unit recycling program awaits returning students — in the form of hungry blue bins labeled “Feed the Thing.”

The program, enacted Dec. 1, has collected 61.5 tons of recyclables in its first month. The service aims to collect 2,600 tons of recycled material from Champaign residents by the end of the year.

“We’re pretty happy with the program so far. We have a long way to go, but a lot of our customers were not on campus, and it’s going to take time to build up awareness,” said Elizabeth Hannan, administrative services manager of “Feed the Thing.”

The city of Champaign has offered residents a recycling service since 1994, but the program was only available to buildings with fewer than four units, leaving large apartment buildings and Greek houses without a recycling program.

Before “Feed the Thing” was enacted, residents of large complexes who chose to recycle had to drive their material to a public drop-off area in Champaign, which was closed on Dec. 30. Residents of neighboring cities throughout Vermilion County, most of which do not have a recycling service, also utilized this drop-off center.

Matthew Snyder, Urbana resident and president of Community Resource Inc., said the closure of this drop-off area could reduce the amount of recycled material that comes from cities outside of Champaign County.

“Champaign did a perfectly reasonable thing — the drop-off center was costing them a lot of extra money,” Snyder said. “But surrounding areas, such as Vermilion County, did away with their recycling programs a few years ago because of budgetary reasons. It’s not as valued there as in Champaign County.”

However, Hannan said Illini Recycling, one of the city’s haulers for the single-unit recycling program, has opened its own drop-off center for residents of neighboring cities that do not have their own recycling program.

“We know that a lot of the people that utilized the drop-off site didn’t actually live in the city,” Hannan said. “But (Illini Recycling) has been great. In the end, nobody got left without an option.”

Cindy Eaglen, owner of Illini Recycling, said the company hopes the program will spread awareness about recycling throughout the community.

“We’re really trying to incorporate the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ theory,” Eaglen said. “These programs are very important, especially because the community is lacking in education regarding recycling. We try to offer something in that vein.”

Hannan said despite the increased cost to property owners, most have embraced the service because of the residential demand for the program.

“Nobody’s excited about having an additional cost, but most have been on board, because it was a service that their residents wanted,” she said.

In fact, Hannan said the program has been met with mostly positive feedback from Champaign residents.

“We’ve had a lot more positive feedback than we expected,” Hannan said. “People don’t always take the time to tell you when things are going well.”