[speaker001:] yes um I I think that Plano has really done a fantastic job I mean at least their plans have are good um how however I was maybe you saw in the paper this morning that um they've had some problems with the recycling on plastic uh-huh I thought that was most interesting that
[speaker002:] with the plastic well I just I thought it was sad that they it started out as a good program
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] but then people started dumping trash and the wrong objects in there and I and that concerned me that people were using it as a way to get rid of things they just didn't want to set at the curb or take to the dump and and uh
[speaker001:] yes yeah that's right yeah I guess that's going to happen
[speaker002:] I it's too bad that people have to ruin a good part thing
[speaker001:] yeah a really good effort that's right yeah
[speaker002:] but uh
[speaker001:] well I was thinking about the other day um when I when Dick and I were oh many many years ago when we were first married and he was in graduate school in Missouri um I went oh I was probably this was probably see it been like nineteen sixty seven or sixty eight um we I went to a meeting and uh one of the the speakers at the meeting was a woman who was recycling and um she was from Saint Louis and she had this fantastic um family effort in in recycling
[speaker002:] hum
[speaker001:] and she was dividing her colored glass and her plastics and her aluminum and I thought wow I mean how one person is doing that you know but my my thought was
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] it's a shame I mean it's wonderful that she's doing it and it but wouldn't it be much much nicer if we all did it because her effort would have really um really uh been a good example for all of us and yet you know and we were just sort of talking about it at the time and here we are you know now we're doing it on a city wide basis in in communities so it's wonderful that we've come that far I think but
[speaker002:] doing it what did she do with if if she was she like a group that was doing it or was she doing it on her own and what did she do with the
[speaker001:] um I think she was I was trying to remember it seems to me that she was doing it on her own and living in Saint Louis there were places where she could actually take her uh things herself
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh and so it wasn't you know something that was being picked up or um and I think she was encouraging other people to do it if they would but I remember her saying yes I have a trash can for this and a trash can for that and a trash can for the other thing and I thought wow that's that is wonderful that somebody is doing that does that yeah
[speaker002:] you you have to really want to do it though this is even even what you recycle because we we do the the plastics and the and the aluminum and the glass and the paper
[speaker001:] uh-huh right yes
[speaker002:] and um and of course then you know you try to buy right too but um
[speaker001:] sure you do uh-huh
[speaker002:] a lot of our neighbors say well what you have to rinse out this and you have to make sure it's that and you have to it's uh we we had neighbors that complained when we got the new garbage cans
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh isn't that amazing
[speaker002:] and I thought what are you complaining about
[speaker001:] well you know
[speaker002:] when you're only going to get picked up once a month you know or once a week and
[speaker001:] yes people I don't know they find fault in everything rather than say this is a good effort yeah I don't know it's it's I understand I know what you're saying kind of people like that and
[speaker002:] rather than work with it yeah well it's for everybody's benefit I mean it's it's not so maybe we don't realize it in our lifetime but we you have to think grandchildren and great grandchildren and
[speaker001:] well sure it is yep yeah it's on down the line
[speaker002:] what kind of quality of life are you leaving them and and the and I have a real concern about that uh
[speaker001:] right yes yeah I agree when
[speaker002:] we've never had much trash because while while I was raised in a big family and and Gene's family wasn't big but they weren't rich
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] and they had to to recycle and and you know the food well they didn't they just used things they didn't throw things away before they were used up and
[speaker001:] sure yeah right yeah well I know um I guess I got a good example from my mother because she was always very very conscientious about recycling things and she is to this day and you know I mean she'll even um if she
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] for instance she she would take the waxed paper out of a cereal box and use that for you know when she made cookies it would go on that or if she needed to wrap something for needed uh sandwich paper or something she'd use that
[speaker002:] yeah right
[speaker001:] she just she recycles everything and I have done the same thing I recycle like zip lock bags and things like that my kids get the biggest kick out of that although
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] they do the same thing I mean they I think they give me a hard time but I think they know that that's it's the right way
[speaker002:] right they've picked up the habit well they do and when they actually get out away from the home and have to do their own buying of things
[speaker001:] uh-huh yes and they appreciate how much it costs to do that
[speaker002:] then and then they say well hey you know mom used to do this and dad used to do that and pretty soon they're they're figuring out that's not such a bad way to go but
[speaker001:] yeah that's right that's true yeah well I don't know you know I I wonder how how you instill in people the necessity for doing just a little bit extra to to make this whole thing work I mean the extra like washing out bottles and jars or the extra of actually uh making sure that uh you take stuff over to you know some people are complaining now are complaining because the stuff isn't picked up at the curbside you know and I think golly Moses you just do your part you know people are not you you you can't be waited on all your life and expect things to always have work out out
[speaker002:] right well see this this is what concerns me you over in Europe they don't have the kind of waste we do here
[speaker001:] no that's right
[speaker002:] you you've got to be in a country even in in Mexico you don't see things thrown away like we do here
[speaker001:] uh-huh right yeah yeah
[speaker002:] I mean what we throw away is is a ransom a king's ransom to most people and I and even to people in our country who scavenge for food and
[speaker001:] yes uh-huh yeah yeah yeah
[speaker002:] and and I I think you have to get into a period of need before you can't tell a person that lives in a hundred two hundred three hundred thousand dollar house
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] that have all that they need and all that they could want that they've got to be careful this is uh I this is why I thought Jimmy Carter was never very popular very positive you know
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh no uh
[speaker002:] people didn't like him
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] because he tried to say turn off the lights conserve this do that and and uh the people I nob ody wanted to hear it
[speaker001:] yeah yeah right do those little things yeah that make a lot of difference uh-huh yeah yeah it's I you know and I think you're right though I think that it has to really hit home before the message sometimes or you have to grow up with it being important important in your life um oh oh um before the message really takes hold sometimes and
[speaker002:] it's it's uh uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] um I don't know it's uh it's just really interesting to me how now more aware of things I am than I even myself than I used to be a few years ago I mean like I I'd go to the um to the UTD um cafeteria for lunch sometimes
[speaker002:] right uh-huh
[speaker001:] and they use styrofoam plates when they wouldn't need to use styrofoam plates
[speaker002:] um right
[speaker001:] you know and I think to myself that's that's crazy I wonder if you know maybe I need to bring that to someone's attention you know and and
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh I'm seeing more and more of that and and I think it's uh just McDonald's effort to reduce the number of of styrofoam uh boxes that they use for hamburgers and stuff I think is a good good example you know that even industry is willing to do it
[speaker002:] right huh I I think the big question too we're looking at is would you be willing to pay more for a product so it can be recycled
[speaker001:] yeah well I think that may that's kind of what it's coming to I'm sure
[speaker002:] it um that's that's right and and uh
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] do we have to wait until all the landfills are full
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] and there is nowhere else to put our garbage or and I don't with the mind set
[speaker001:] that's right yeah
[speaker002:] of the American public I think what they will do is start paying Mexico to take our trash
[speaker001:] uh-huh wow that doesn't wouldn't surprise me uh-huh
[speaker002:] that isn't that isn't harmful or they will go dump it out in the middle of some ocean
[speaker001:] yeah yeah uh
[speaker002:] that's the way we solve problems and it's sad
[speaker001:] I know it and unfortunately