I was shocked to read Steve Sutton's negative opinion on recycling, "Recycling does not save resources, reduce costs" (SN 1/22).

What sort of credentials could he possess to justify his claim that 6,000 students "should be chastised for their ignorance"? Especially after petitioning MSU to reverse the university's distinction as "the last Big Ten school without a comprehensive recycling program available to everyone within the university," according to the student environmental group Eco.

The intelligent readers of this paper know that his casual observation that separate trucks are required to pick up recyclables does not prove his point. Also, trucks emit few hydrocarbons; they instead burn them for fuel, and it is probably the carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides being released that are of concern.

He states that recycling materials uses 35 percent more energy than sending them to a landfill, but does not consider the energy saved by not having to cut down, mine or drill for raw materials. Mr. Sutton must feel passionate about this issue in order to submit his letter; I wish he would use some of that energy to research the topic before his next attempt to convert others away from recycling. I encourage everyone to go online and learn about life-cycle assessment, which evaluates the impact of products or services throughout the life span.

Gregory Bugosh
2006 MSU graduate