The Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God have found a good use for that endless stream of junk mail that arrives each day.

They are trying to make a little money from it while helping the environment.

The religious community in Whitehall is one of the newest participants in a regional campaign started by a Canadian company which recycles newspapers, catalogs, junk mail, magazines and office paper into newsprint.

The sisters enrolled in the Abitibi Paper Retriever Recycling Program, which is paying schools, churches and nonprofit agencies by the ton for printed material they collect in green and yellow recycling bins which are popping up all over the region.

"We are trying to save the Earth, save the planet for future generations," said Sister Barbara Zilch, assistant provincial minister.

She said the community signed on about a month ago after hearing about the program through some principals in the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese, many of whom are getting their schools involved in the recycling. She said the Sisters of St. Francis had recycled for years, but used to have to pay to get newspapers and other materials hauled away.

Abitibi will pay for paper; $5 per ton for up to four tons; $15 per ton from four to eight tons and $20 for anything more than eight tons.

One member of the order, Sister Mary Ann Lostoski, principal of St. Joan of Arc Elementary School in Library, brought boxes to her school and asked teachers to fill them with junk mail, used paper and newspapers.

"What I love is that they take catalogs," said Sister Mary Ann, who hauls the paper she collects back to the motherhouse in Whitehall. There, she deposits it in the Abitibi bin in the Activity Hall parking lot, adjacent to the former St. Francis Academy Building at 1401 Hamilton Road, near McRoberts Road.

Cardboard, telephone books, plastic and metal are not accepted.

Abitibi-Consolidated, a major recycler of newspapers in North America, began operating in southwestern Pennsylvania last year and intends to establish 1,200 recycling bins in the region.

As of last week, the company had installed 345 recycling bins in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Beaver, Butler and Washington counties, said David Oliver, Abitibi's former local manager. More are being added every day.

Mr. Oliver said Abitibi's world headquarters is in Montreal, but that its recycling division started about 10 years ago in Houston, Texas.

The company uses the recycled materials to produce newsprint. Mr. Oliver said the bins are emptied regularly and the tonnage is calculated by the month and hauled to Carnegie, where Unipaper Recycling Co. treats it.

"We need all that mixture of paper [junk mail, catalogs and newspapers] to recycle quality newsprint," Mr. Oliver said, adding that the paper is shipped to Abitibi's closest mill in Thorold, Ontario, where it is turned into newsprint, which is sold to newspapers.

Locally, he said, public and private schools have signed on to have bins installed as well as municipalities and nonprofits which hope to earn some extra money.

"We are getting quite a bit out of the public schools," Mr. Oliver said. "And a number of municipalities dedicate the money [they earn] to their volunteer fire departments."

Mr. Oliver said his company offered an educational component to its recycling effort at local schools.

"We do assemblies, have a mascot and show the kids how to recycle," Mr. Oliver said.

The Sisters of St. Francis hope that the people in their neighborhood will become dedicated users of their recycling bin.

"We are putting it in our community newspaper ... and are putting up posters in the neighborhood," Sister Barbara said.

She said the order hadn't decided how it would spend the money. Potentially, the order could raise thousands of dollars a year if it can fill the bin early and often.

To find an Abitibi bin in your neighborhood, click on www.paperretriever.com. Select "United States," then "Recycling Container Locator." Punch in your ZIP code for the location of the nearest bins.