The truck stops here

I’ve been thinking of getting one of those new hybrids and recycling my truck, but after reading “When Recycling’s Bad for the Environment” [Aug. 4], I realized it would be cruelty to inflict my discards on my friends.

Better to drive it into the ground, leave it with dings, scratches and subtle flaws under the hood that will take the poor shlub that comes upon it weeks to discover.

But perhaps I’m mistaken. Perhaps some cars go well with some people, and some go better with others. I don’t think all my friends are cookie-cutter copies of me. Maybe I don’t have to view everything that leaves my life as some sort of failed experiment that I should bury in the backyard to pollute the groundwater long after I’ve taken my leave.

Then again, I’m just talking about cars.

TOM RODEN

Irvine