Recycling

Dear Michel and Yolanda,

I heard a lot of rambling outside tonight. It was about four or five o'clock in the morning when I was woken up by the sound of metal clanking against metal. I thought the raccoons got in your trash, so I walked outside and I saw that there was a truck parked by the curbside, and a woman — I could not see her face — was rummaging through your recycling bins.

"What are you doing over there?" I called out to her.

She did not answer, and I was afraid to approach her closer. But it was obvious that she was pulling out all the glass bottles and putting them in the back of her truck. When I spooked her with my question, she got in the truck and drove away. It was still dark, and I didn't catch the numbers on her license plate, but I called the sheriff to report the incident anyway. Gale had mentioned that there was an increasing amount of poachers in the area, people who more than $50 a day by stealing people's bottles and cashing them in for deposit. It worries me, especially now when I saw it happening with my own eyes: people who routinely scoop up the area for trash, might also come back for something much more valuable. I asked the sheriff what we should do to prevent this from happening in the future.

"There's not much you can do," he said. He wasn't very helpful.

His advice basically comes down to two options:

1. We put out the bins right before the recycling company comes by, which is approximately between 6:30 and 7 am. Since you're already up at that hour, this is the option that would probably fit your routine the best. I suggest that you consider it very seriously.

2. Separate the plastic and glass bottles out from the rest of the trash and take it to the recycling depot once a month or so on your own. This is the option that might work best for me, since I live on my own and do not accumulate much waste during the week.

I hope you take action on the above right away.

Your neighbor, Anne Marie.