From our Readers 218

September 11, 2001

We've all wondered what [would be] a fitting and appropriate memorial to [those] … lost on Sept. 11. I have been in the scrap and waste business for more than 60 years … We need to recycle everything from Ground Zero [that] will not present a burden to an … overwhelmed infrastructure.

I propose a barrier reef be created 17.25 miles offshore from the site of the former World Trade Center. This distance is exactly 91,101 feet, which [would be away] from major shipping lanes, yet a beacon from this site would have been visible if you were standing on the 110th floor.

This sacred rubble and scrap should not be buried in a landfill with ordinary trash or consumed in a steel mill's furnace [because] it contains pieces of books and records, photos and memories, tile, carpet, computers, lighting, glass, and marble and someone's [father] … son … friend … neighbor. How dare we bury or melt this treasure.
— Harry Kletter
Industrial Services of America
Louisville, Ky.

Has Recycling Withered?

I agree completely with [Chaz Miller's] Circular File, “Has Recycling Withered?” [March 2002, page 30] [One] thing that always makes me crazy [is the] lack of distinction between good, old-fashioned commercial recycling and the marginal residential/curbside debacles.

Many years ago, when I lived in Pennsylvania, [I] served as chairman of our local municipality's recycling and waste stream management committee. I was literally minutes away from … meeting with the board of supervisors and suggesting that we increase the number of mandatory items in our residential recycling program from six to nine, when I had a defining conversation with a friend from Waste Management. He advised, “let the market determine what you recycle.” Thankfully, I listened.

[Where I work today,] we sell thousands of tons of recycled fiber [each month] to mills in Mexico and the United States that exclusively use recycled fiber, which is a system that works. We simply need to keep reminding people of the difference.

Keep up the good work.
— Randy Wolf
Balcones Resources, Austin, Texas

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