Dear Editor,

Driving around Andalusia lately, I’ve noticed that not a lot of our blue recycle bags are being used, not as was expected when this program started.

Now, I for one, and about 10-12 of our residents at Saddle Ridge I do our part in this program, but out of 44 residents, that is a small percentage. While I realize that part of our residents are older and disabled, I also realize that someone must take care of these people and must take out their garbage. Thusly, the blue bag could be used for part of that trash if someone would just take the effort.

What this tells me is that the same caretakers do not use the recycle program at home, either. I remember as a child of the 50s and 60s, we had plenty of trees, clean water, grasslands, and all due to our parents and grandparents, who had come up the hard way, during and after the great depression, when they had nothing.

They were determined that we (my generation) would not have it as hard as they did. So, we were taught to respect the natural environment and preserve it for future generations. For some reason, after the Vietnam debacle, we lost sight of this and the next generation had no concept of the impending disaster that would come.

So now, everything has led up to and is leading toward a bleak future for our grandchildren’s well-being. It is very imperative that we recycle anything that can be recycled. As time states, trees are fast becoming a thing of the past, coal is being over-mined, and industrial gases are depleting the ozone (the UV filtering layer of our atmosphere) without the natural filtration of vegetation.

Please, if you are not doing so, request from the city a copy of the recyclable materials, a blue bag, and start the process that will help our future generations be able to exist until new trees grow, new coal forms, and scientists figure new ways to deal with the ozone.

I have no grandchildren yet, but, when and if I do, I would like for them to see the world as I once saw it sitting on my “grandfather’s knee.”

Thank you for your time.

Steven A. Bryant

Andalusia