People around Boston, including Boston University students, celebrate the start of spring in April by enjoying the outdoors and participating in Earth Day activities.

The realization sets in, come the second semester, that your closet is full of clothes you no longer love. When this happens, it’s time for spring cleaning.

Students parsed through neatly organized piles of shirts, jeans, sweaters and dresses that lined tables in the basement of the George Sherman Union. They selected items to bring home, after sifting through the piles and avoiding to take the clothes they brought. On Saturday afternoon, a small crowd of a little more than 20 students participated in the first-ever clothing swap hosted by Boston University Student Government’s Department of Environmental Affairs.