Recycling Program Just Isn’t Working

The truth is we will still need the Lopez Canyon Landfill until we can come up with an inexpensive and viable way to recycle our waste. I work at the landfill and my job for more than three years was as a spotter on trash. Every day I saw tons of paper, plastic of all kinds, cardboard, tin cans and aluminum being dumped at the site. This has got to stop. Our recycling program is not working.

The earthquake debris did not affect the landfill capacity, as most of the debris was sent elsewhere. We were and still are limited by the number of trucks and tonnage entering the landfill.

Whether it is Lake View Terrace, Sun Valley, West L.A., Palos Verdes or any other community, we (the city of Los Angeles) have not decided where or how to divert all of the trash. The residents of new homes built recently near the landfill knew the dump was there. It seems City Councilman Richard Alarcon just wants to close the landfill without any options ready to implement. The time is now to get a recycling effort in force and a plan to divert all the trash, whether it is 1997 or the year 2000. It will be upon us before the city knows what it wants to do.

As bad as the landfills are, they do produce energy. That energy was offered to the DWP for free and they declined. It just goes to show that the powers that be do not work together in solving problems.

DONALD E. PLEINS, Saugus