Re: [GreenYes] Anthrax

["Edna J. Glenn" <techsvcs@u.washington.edu>]

Hello, I haven't posted here to date, but really appreciate the postings
in this e-mail group and wanted to share a somewhat related comment or two
on the topic of contaminated mail wending its way to recycling stations,
or into a neighbor's household waste.

I recall standing in the middle of my kitchen in dumb-struck awe at the
remark made by a local [Seattle] resident in response to promptings by a
reporter on a nightly tv news broadcast.  She replied, in regard to how
she was coping with her incoming mail, that if anything looked suspicious
to her she immediately threw it in the recycling bin. [!] Apparently she
hasn't connected the dots to realize that other people, possibly friends,
possibly neighbors, will then risk exposure to her suspect mail somewhere
down the line.

Also, on another matter, I volunteer with our local [King County/Metro]
transport system by 'adopting' a small waste can receptacle at my local
bus stop. I collect from this can once a week and combine it with my own
household waste into the smallest micro-can available from solid waste
management.

~Lots~ of issues there [in re: what ends up in that bus stop can], but
that's for another day.  About a two weeks ago I started seeing pieces of
mail show up in the can.  The front of the can clearly states that 'one of
your neighbors has adopted this can in an effort to keep your community
free of litter.' Apparently someone doesn't care about his/her neighbor to
the extent that I am now being exposed to someone else's 'suspicious'
mail.  I will have to bring up the matter with the volunteer program
coordinator; it won't be difficult to figure out who's leaving it as they,
being afraid to touch the mail apparently, have not obliterated their home
address.

It's disheartening to think that people, otherwise generally good-willed
people, do not think about the safety of others who must handle their
potentially dangerous cast-offs.

Best regards,
Edna J. Glenn
Seattle, WA  USA

> Peter Anderson wrote: (to think, if it is true, that a terrorist would
> know and take time to recycle residential mixed paper?!?!?!?!?!?!? It
> boggles the mind.)

> Donna Stusek quoted: ...'a Material Recycling Facility in Ohio was
> shut down indefinitely due to the possible exposure to Anthrax.
> Decontamination processes have started and all of the workers have
> been instructed to see their family doctor and get their dosages of
> Cipro'...

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