Recycling Bins

* “Putting a Lid on Scavengers” (April 15) cries out for comment. The article says: “Reacting to the loss of $2 million to theft by trash scavengers during fiscal 1995-96, the City Council has approved one-third of an estimated $33-million plan to buy anti-scavenging curbside recycling receptacles for about 720,000 Los Angeles homes.” I smell a rat in the rubbish here. The city’s brain trust wants to spent $33 million to prevent the loss of $2 million. Even kids educated in struggling public schools can compute better than this. A simple cost-benefit analysis will reveal someone is lining his or her pockets with tax dollars. It’s either that or there’s gold in garbage that they ain’t telling us about.

ARTHUR A. HANNAFEY

Lancaster