FARMINGTON – After dumping plastic bags of trash onto the campus green at the University of Maine at Farmington on Thursday, students and faculty members sorted through each bag looking for items that should have been recycled.

Trash Day at the university, a project planned by the Sustainable Campus Coalition, was an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of recycling in residence halls. The refuse was separated into piles of waste and recyclable materials to see how much recycling was being done by students.

“We want to see how much . . . stuff that could have been recycled,” said UMF student Dale Menard, who organized the event. “Depending on the results, we may change our policy, but mostly we want to make students more aware.”

As students pawed through smelly items including everything from pieces of fake fur to food items and chased errant bags picked up by the wind, the refuse was separated into plastic, paper, returnable cans and food items ready for composting. There was also a pile for items that were still good and could be recycled.

“The trash day is usually held in the spring, but the group wanted to do it now to get students caring about it throughout the year,” Menard said. “Results will be posted in the Student Center tomorrow to let students know how they did.”

Of the 2,227 full- and part-time students at UMF this year, about 1,087 live in eight residence halls where bins for recycling are easily accessible, Menard said.

Facilities management workers left 40 bags of trash on the grassed area next to the library early Thursday. The trash was collected over 24 hours from the residence halls. After separating items, students will return bags of recyclables to the campus department, said Greg Webber, assistant director of facilities.

“Last year about 62 percent of the campus’ trash was recycled,” he said.

The campus food service, Aramark, also has a separate program for recycling food items into compost, he added.