Mixed Messages in Trash Settlement

Re “O.C. Trash Haulers End 5-Day Strike,” Oct. 6:

Our trash haulers, with overtime, can now make more than many of the teachers in our local schools. (Don’t kid yourself, those teachers put in plenty of overtime.)

What a message for our young people. Five years of college plus required ongoing credits plus enormous responsibility.... Why bother?

Donald Kerns

Garden Grove

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I was amazed when I noticed two pictures in your Oct. 3 California section on the trash strike. Amazed how most people in this great land of ours still don’t get it.

The front page shows a man knee-deep in trash; plastic bags and cardboard abound. Page 4 shows a young gentleman throwing a cardboard box into an already overflowing dumpster.

How much of that cardboard, paper and even plastic could be set aside to recycle? Just by breaking down the cardboard and laying it flat would create enough space to allow for another few days of regular trash. (Longer if the recycled material were hauled off separately.)

When are we going to realize that trash doesn’t disappear when it leaves our doors? Many homeowners are already required to separate their recyclables. So when will it be required of markets, restaurants, etc.?

With the ever-changing global events, when are Americans going to wake up not only to our mass consumption of precious resources, but also to our disregard for the earth? Every action we make has another reaction elsewhere.

C. Minear

Costa Mesa

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Whew, am I glad that Orange County trash strike finally ended. So depressing. My neighbors and I were all down in the dumps.

Con Bliss

Huntington Beach