Monday, one o’clock, lunchtime, and the garbage bins in the Daniel’s College of Business classrooms already are overflowing with refuse abandoned by students. Pouring over the rim of the bins and onto the floor are, among other things, Pepsi cans and empty plastic juice bottles. Most of the things are all easily recyclable.

There should be recycling bins nearby. There are none, so students conveniently turn their recyclables into the garbage. Apathy and lack of interest are the reasons why an efficient recycling program at the University of Denver isn’t in place.

Recycling bins on campus aren’t easy to find. Paper recycling bins are scarce in the classrooms. Plastic and aluminum recycling bins aren’t common in the cafeterias and restaurants. There isn’t anywhere to recycle newspapers in the library.

The recycling bins that exist are small, tucked away in obscure places, and aren’t clearly labeled. These bins don’t get a lot of business.

Recycling is handled by the Facilities and Management Planning Department, which operates on a modest budget, that doesn’t provide adequate manpower or desire devoted to recycling.

This question remains; if recycling were available, would it be popular? According to AUSA Senator Monica Kumar, failed recycling programs in the past are increasing difficulties in improving the modest recycling efforts already in place at DU. Student’s haven’t exhibited a desire to recycle, so the administration is hesitant to increase resources allocated for recycling, Kumar explained.

Students don’t recycle because recycling opportunities are scare, and recycling opportunities are scarce because students haven’t demonstrated an interest in recycling. So how do we break the cycle? Either students take the initiative to seek-out already available recycling options, or the administration takes a gamble and increases the resources devoted to recycling to see if student usage improves.