As a result of years of effort by the Environmental Student Organization, expanding BU’s recycling program has become a student movement at Boston University. Last year, more than 2,000 BU students signed petitions in favor of expanding and improving BU’s recycling program. All of the petitions were collected during a mere three-week period, arguably demonstrating strong student support for increased recycling. And the administration has begun to respond. Glimmers of success can be seen in the new newspaper recycling bins in CAS, COM and LAW, in Building and Grounds’ computer recycling program and in the agreement to put bins into Sargent College in the near future.

A green trio has evolved at BU; one which works together to increase BU’s recycling program. It is composed of BU’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Mike Lyons of Buildings and Grounds and the Environmental Student Organization. This cooperation is a rare example of BU administrators and students collaborating for a common good, benefiting students, the University and society as a whole.

Students benefit from increased recycling at the University because with more bins, less time is wasted searching for them. Consequently, more bins mean greater convenience for environmentally aware students.

In addition, the University’s reputation benefits as it improves its recycling program. Improvement in the recycling program shows the University is keeping pace with a growing global awareness of the importance of the environment.

Lastly, improved recycling benefits society by reducing unnecessary materials usage, energy usage and waste, thereby making the Earth a better place to live for our children.

While things are looking up for BU’s notoriously weak recycling program, we should not avert our eyes from the discrepancy between what is and what should be. The administration deserves thanks for its unusual show of responsiveness to both student concern and to the rapidly evolving common wisdom that it makes sense to have a strong recycling program on college campuses.

However, its job, and the job of students, is far from complete. Consider these facts:

•There are no recycling bins on the majority of floors in BU dorms; instead, recycling bins are generally placed only on the first floor. It is worthwhile to contrast BU’s dormitory recycling program with that of MIT. While BU has not yet put recycling bins on the floors where students live, MIT has begun to place personal recycling bins in students’ rooms.

•BU will not publicly release statistics on the percentage of its trash that is recycled. Harvard proudly displays on its recycling website that it recycles 24 percent of its refuse.

•Students in most BU brownstones have to walk outside, sometimes long distances, if they want to recycle their bottles and paper. This becomes a major inconvenience during the winter and may lead students who would otherwise recycle to choose not to do so.

•Some BU buildings are equipped with little more than a few recycling bins hidden in a poorly marked room in their basements.

BU has made great strides in its recycling program in recent years, however, as the facts above remind us, it has not come nearly far enough. The movement for an expanded recycling program at Boston University needs to continue to grow. As students who have finally begun to make our voice heard, we cannot give up the fight just as we approach success. Instead, we should redouble our efforts to ensure that our university continues working to bring its recycling up to the high standard set by the schools across the river.

I hope that the time of yelling angry slogans at our administrators to increase recycling is past. It is not as difficult now, as it once was, to envision a bright future of cooperation between administrators, faculty, and staff. I am optimistic that those who will call BU their home in the years to come will choose to continue to build upon the excellent groundwork that is now in place to improve the quality of our university’s recycling program.