Dumping L.A. Trash in Desert

I couldn’t get to the typewriter fast enough to respond to the two letters (Sept. 25) about the proposed use of desert lands for dump sites. As usual, there is a middle ground which both of the writers missed. Cliff Lawson of Inyokern says that we who live “down below” should keep our trash at home, and I can certainly understand why he feels that way. Lawrence S. Crane of Los Angeles, on the other hand, seems to favor the out-of-sight-out-of-mind approach of just dumping everything in the desert and forgetting about it. He says we should forget about “impractical and unworkable alternatives” such as recycling.

It seems to me that the use of some desert space for landfills might be an acceptable proposal, but to abandon recycling is pure madness! Let me remind Crane that all of those aluminum and “tin” cans, glass bottles and jars, and plastic containers of all types are made from non-renewable resources! We do not own this Earth--it is given to us in trust to tend for awhile, and we are not being very good stewards of that trust! I recycle all types of containers, and newspapers, and it is not much of an inconvenience considering the alternative--the eventual annihilation of our planet! I think we should pass a law immediately which makes recycling mandatory.

RALPH R. BARLOW

Northridge