Many residence hall dwellers are rightfully chagrined that the Department of Residence Life has chosen to eliminate its recycling program. But rather than focus solely on ResLife's vague and contradictory excuses for its illogical decision to shut down the program, it's time for residence hall residents to refocus their efforts on coming up with an economical alternative.

The program's termination seems to defy logic. It is ludicrous to encourage an activity such as recycling while providing no infastructure through which it may be accomplished. At the very least, ResLife should return the old recycling bins to residence halls and encourage students to participate, rather than removing them and offering them for resale.

Regardless of the bureaucratic tangle enveloping the recycling program and of the justification for such extensive cuts, the program has been definitively eliminated.

Rather than waiting for ResLife to come around while the trash bins fill, it's time for student groups to assume responsibility for the program to make sure it is not forsaken altogether. The Residence Hall Association and individual hall governments would be the natural choice to take the lead in creating and maintaining recycling programs for residents.

ResLife should, at minimum, return the old bins to residence halls. However, even if ResLife refuses, it would not require much of a commitment from the halls, monetarily or otherwise, to purchase them. The bins would be a one-time cost and relatively inexpensive. Beyond that, all that's required is someone willing to load up a truck once a month and take the hall's recyclables to a larger, campus-wide drop-off point.

And if money is really a major issue, it probably isn't even necessary to purchase bins for individual rooms. Hall governments ÷ many of which have recycling coordinators already ÷ would be better off putting larger, more centralized receptacles on each wing or floor.

It is a travesty that this valuable program has been dismantled against the wishes of students. However, indignation shouldn't overshadow what is a fantastic opportunity for an equally successful, more cost-effective, hall-oriented program.