There is no good reason to not recycle. MU needs to encourage the student body to think wisely about where waste is going. As a former CU-Boulder student, I have witnessed true education and advocacy for recycling.

The problem lies on a lack of responsibility of the students. Students should feel personal obligation to know what can be recycled and where to recycle it. MU only recycled 31.2 percent of its waste last year. There is no good explanation, other than lack of responsibility to our environment, that UC-Los Angeles recycled 60 percent of its waste, nearly double that of MU.

The student body must be educated on recycling and feel motivated to make MU a greener campus. We cannot let our school fall behind in the recycling revolution. This movement toward a greener way of life is not a fad. There is no reason to not reduce, reuse, recycle.

MU must ask all students to be more conscious of what they are using and how to dispose of it. From simple email reminders to an ad campaign, MU should insist that its students and faculty recycle. If the campus can collectively commit to recycling, every individual would reap the benefits.

—Claire McKee, junior
ckmz85@mail.missouri.edu