Coral Gables gets active with recycling program AWKWARD SQUAD
Re Howard Cohen’s
Nov. 15 article, “Florida is a garbage wasteland, and it’s getting worse thanks to COVID:” In honor of America Recycles Day, the City of Coral Gables recently held an event in which more than 600 cars dropped off unwanted electronics, household hazardous waste and cardboard.
Simultaneously, the city’s police department offered paper shredding of sensitive documents. Residents waited more than 40 minutes as they queued through the various drop off locations — most without complaint — just happy to dispose of unwanted materials in an environmentally-friendly manner.
What started as a simple experiment with one empty truck in January 2016, these biannual events now result in the collection of more than 116,429 pounds of electronic waste, 66,307 pounds of hazardous waste (paints, pool chemicals, pesticides), and 32,400 pounds of shredded paper.
With the founding of Earth Day and the EPA in the early 1970s, the three environmental Rs were born — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Americans in great numbers embraced the notion of recycling household glass, metal, paper and plastic.
For many years, it all worked. Much of our waste was sent to China to be repurposed and remade and would return to us as new materials. But about five years ago, China started to reject our waste and much of it now is finding its way into landfills, waterways, lakes and oceans.
Before we buy that next case of plastic water bottles, we should make the conscious decision to refuse to do it because, even though we plan to put the empties into our municipal recycling bins, those bottles will most likely end up in a nearby landfill. Let’s consciously consider the final resting spot of a product before buying it.
– Marlin Ebbert,
Coral Gables
Re the Nov. 23 story “GOP anti-socialism ‘Freedom Squad’ forms with Gimenez, Salazar:” This is truly a marketing ploy and fear-mongering directed at the growing number of people who do not know what socialism is and to those who once fled their countries because of authoritarian takeovers.
We do have some socialist concepts in our government: Medicaid, supplemental Social Security, the Cuban Adjustment Act (an entitlement), public health insurance coverage, SNAP benefits and Section 8 housing, among others. These are in place to help those who, for whatever reason, qualify and are in need of these programs.
Additionally, when we all pay taxes, our money is distributed by the federal and state governments to pay for infrastructure, water management, FEMA, law enforcement, education, defense. All are the archetypal definition of socialism.
Is there a left-wing force in our country? Of course. there is.
Is there a right-wing, ultra-conservative force in our country? As we have seen for the past four years, clearly the answer is Yes.
Let’s stop instilling fear into people and try to come together to get our country back on track. Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar, instead, should be putting their efforts into addressing the pandemic crisis in this state.
– Judith M. Briggs,
Miami