Editor:

I am responding to the article “Insights: Save the Pocketbook or the Planet?” by Cheryl Everett (Observer, July 7).

Are we kidding? Are we really talking about a raise of 68 cents per month per Rio Rancho Waste Management customer or not recycling?

$8.16 per year per customer is the problem? Most pay that for a frappuccino at Starbucks every day, or a six-pack of Corona or Bud Light.

Have we not read all of the articles about the plastic that will bury us and our oceans? Check out the Washington Post article, from Jan. 20, 2016, “Plastic in oceans will outweigh fish by 2050.”

The article says that 95 percent of plastic packaging is thrown away after a single use. What are we waiting for?

I am so very proud of Rio Rancho for recycling and wish that more residents would take the time to do it. It’s not hard.

Order a container from Waste Management, and rinse all metal cans, plastic cups and detergent containers. All paper: just throw it in.

I am a one-person household, and it takes me three or four weeks to fill it up. Have we thought about the alternative?

Are we just going to bury it in the earth? How long do you think that luxury will last?

I just got back from Italy, and the mindset is very different there. They don’t have miles and miles of space around them.

Everyone lives in tiny apartments in huge apartment buildings in Rome. You don’t see great big trash cans everywhere for trash.

You don’t get a plastic bag with your purchase. You are expected to bring a bag with you.

How many of us are doing that, or are we just throwing the plastic bags in the trash? Do we want to wait until garbage is staring at us in our front yard?

“60 Minutes” had a program about the plastic issue a few months ago, and plastic is washing up on the shores of many countries. It’s showing up in the bellies of birds on islands far, far away from us.

The luxury of just buying and throwing away is catching up with us. Please, for the sake of our children and grandchildren, let’s appreciate the fact that Rio Rancho is recycling, and use it!

I do!

Caren Waters

Rio Rancho