Every morning I see loads of garbage bags being carted away. Where does this garbage go, as it certainly doesn’t vanish magically.

In the dining halls, thousands of napkins, paper cups and disposable coffee stirrers add up. In the classroom, hundreds of printouts and information packets add up. In the dorm, garbage of all kinds piles up, overflowing from garbage cans.

Yale, as one of the leading universities in the country, does not appear to be making significant strides to reduce our amount of waste production. Student awareness is shockingly low, particularly in comparison to some other universities like Brown, where a recycling bin accompanies each public trash can on campus.

But it is not just students who are to blame for such excessive waste production, but the administration as well. One of my professors hands out packets of 15 pages to each of her 40-odd students of PowerPoint presentations that could easily be posted on the Web.

Why is the administration not encouraging faculty and students more strongly to minimize waste reduction? Why are faculty not encouraged to use e-mail and the Web as much as possible?

Waste reduction at the source is imperative, and Yale needs to take a greater stand on this issue.

Aravinda Ananda is a freshman in Jonathan Edwards College.