Amid free ice cream and boisterous fun, the Student Union’s Environmental Initiative Committee raised awareness for its campaign to make Boston University’s schools, colleges and administrative offices use recycled paper.

The event, sponsored by the Union, took place at the George Sherman Union Thursday, and within the first half hour, more than 100 people signed the group’s petition.

“It’s been really successful. We got a substantial amount of signatures,” said EIC Vice Chairwoman Nicole Ivins.

Ivins also works as recycling chairwoman for the Environmental Student Organization, which worked in conjunction with EIC to help fund the event.

Union senators formed the EIC after students from the University Professors Program asked their Union senators to take more steps on environmental issues within the school itself and eventually the entire university.

“When I went to the Senate, I realized there was no one conducting that,” EIC Chairman and Union Senator Yonatan Matus (UNI) said Wednesday. “So I did some research and thought what I could do to focus the energy and the manpower of senators to promote environmental issues.”

The committee, which is made up of both senators and other students, set out to tackle the use of non-recycled paper on campus.

After only a few months, the committee achieved one of its main goals, Matus said. UNI and the Office of the Dean of Students both announced that they would move completely from “virgin,” or non-recycled paper, to all recycled.

“We are working with different parts annexed to the Dean of Students Office, like [the Student Activities Office], to help them transition into using recycled paper,” Matus said. “There is another big college that I can not reveal by its name just yet that is very interested. They have already passed the negotiations. They met with the supplier and are very happy about it.”

In an email Saturday, Matus said SAO and the Community Service Center have officially announced that they will join UNI and the Office of the Dean of Students in using recycled paper.

Though the EIC is supported by the Union, the changes to the government’s structure announced late last week will not affect their campaign or their mission, Matus said.

“My committee is going to continue working hard until our campaign is successfully concluded, and changing our title or the structure to which we belong is not going to hinder us from accomplishing what we are fighting for,” Matus said.

Matus said he hopes the restructured union will give students a new platform to express their support for the environment.