To the Editor:

As a believer in recycling waste, I was very dismayed to see that the transfer center has resorted to single stream recycling. Like many of us, I receive a lot of deliveries from Amazon, and I accumulate a fair amount of cardboard. When the pile becomes large enough, I make my pilgrimage to the transfer center.

After placing the cardboard into the compactor, the very next person dumped a full container of glass on top and the compactor crushed the glass into the cardboard, rendering it useless for recycling. All I could think of is reformatting last week’s headline to read “Incineration Of All Recycling Isn’t Just Trash Talk.”

Yes, separating recycling requires more effort, but what is the point of making recycling easier when it yields a useless product? Just because single stream recycling is being offered by private contractors doesn’t mean that we need to pay for this dubious service. About 20 percent of single stream recycling ends up in the landfill, or in our area, the incinerator, and much of the remainder is low quality. Recycling glass with paper and plastic is simply not compatible.

Come on, Newtown, we can do better! At the very least, let’s separate glass from all other recyclables.

K. Jake Danziger

5 Stonewall Ridge Road, Newtown         May 14, 2019