However, Okino said last week, "I'm surprised it only generates that much money. We must not be getting too much for what we put in there."

Suzanne Jones, the city's recycling coordinator, said raising money was not the program's primary purpose.

"When we set up this drop-off program, the program has never, never intended to pay for itself," she said. "There is no way that the value of the material would pay for the collection of the material."

The program began with the intention of not only diverting trash from landfills and the waste stream, but also as an educational tool to teach children about recycling, Jones said.

Presently, the city pays $1.2 million a year to rent the bins and have a contractor haul and process the recyclables, Jones said. She said she was unable to detail how much the city has spent for the service, which today benefits at least 60 schools, since 1990.

Salt Lake Elementary Vice Principal Aaron Kimata said his school receives about $27 a month from goods recycled in the community bin in the school's parking lot. That's in line with the city's estimate that schools receive a few hundred to a few thousand dollars from the bins per year.

Schools get $8 to $10 per full bin, according to Jones. How often the bin is filled and emptied per month determines the revenue a school receives.

But Jones said the most important aspect of the program is the educational one. She said the program was never marketed to schools as a way to raise money.

"We said, this is an educational program, it's an environmental program, it's an opportunity for your students, your teachers to have a hands-on learning experience," she said.

Red Hill Elementary receives about $35 a month thanks to its recycling bin, but the program is not entirely about that, said school secretary Madeline Glenn-Paulino. "For the students, they learn to recycle and not just throw out."

However, the state's 5-cent bottle deposit law may help schools profit more from the program, Jones said.

At present, the price per bin is decided by weight: $2 a ton for paper and $12 a ton for mixed containers.

But using the deposit law, the contractor will sift out all 5-cent deposit containers and recycle the rest by weight, which Jones said should result in more income for the schools. However, Jones said, she isn't sure when that change will take effect.

To extend the benefits to more schools, the City Council wants to expand the program to far more than the present 77 bins.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said she hopes that the schools' revenues will increase, and that she believes that is the only way to garner more participation.

"The way to do it, and to encourage them, is to be able to raise enough money to buy something for their school, whether its new textbooks, computers or whatever," she said.

Jeff Mikulina, executive director of the Sierra Club in Hawai'i, agreed, citing about 20 percent redemption numbers for voluntary programs. People are more apt to recycle voluntarily if there is a monetary benefit, he said.

"When you look at the bottle law, where the average is 80 percent redemption, if you put a little financial incentive there, things happen," Mikulina said.

"We're just hoping this becomes a way to help nonprofits and schools make extra money," Kobayashi said. But she said she doesn't want people to lose sight of the real incentive: "It's how we teach the kids to recycle, especially in the elementary schools."