Numerous blue mixed-material recycling bins were introduced to the campus late last week, implemented by BOSS club and the maintenance staff to facilitate recycling.

BOSS club members worked with Facility Manager Mike Bassoni to bring in the new bins. They hope to reduce the amount of trash on campus, as recyclables other than paper can now also be thrown away responsibly.

“Things that can be recycled were being thrown into trash cans,” BOSS club treasurer Mishi Vachev (10) said. “A big part of [the problem] is that the recycling bins were just for paper and also weren’t accessible.”

However, not all students noticed the change on campus. Renee Tam (12) believes that students will become aware of the new bins only when they are publicized.

“I think that if they tell people, students will make use of [the bins], but until now, I didn’t know that they were there,” Renee said.

Maintenance worker Fortino Gonzales thinks that the extra bins will not pose extra work for the maintenance staff and says that the “bright, nice blue” will help students notice the bins.

“I think it’s nice because for each trashcan, now we have one recycling [bin],” he said. “[The campus will be] greener and cleaner!”

Junior Vikas Bhetanabhotla said that the change will help the Upper School become even more environmentally friendly.

“Making the recycling bins more conspicuous and available will help,” Vikas said. “It’s ultimately the student’s choice, but this will foster a responsibility to help the environment.”

According to BOSS president Isha Patnaik (12), last year’s members discussed putting new bins on campus with Bassoni after the city of San Jose implemented a new recycling system this year, called single-stream recycling. The city will now take care of sorting all recycled material into paper, glass, and metal.