Re: Kerrie L. Cortez’ Feb. 16 letter, “Turning trash into cash”: I am writing in response to Kerrie Cortez, who negatively spoke about the article on Ladera Elementary's recycling efforts titled "Recycling program takes off at Thousand Oaks school" People who have negative energy and comments are wasting both their time as well as the time of people who read this paper. I don't know the motives for the response by Kerrie Cortez, but ours at the school are to reduce waste in our overflowing landfills. We are as parents trying to do the right thing for our children by teaching them to respect the earth and the earth's resources. We are doing something positive, not negative, for the earth and for the children. Had you done some research, you would have found out that there are no recycling centers for ziplock bags, juice pouches, chip bags and such on the West Coast. We are fortunate enough to have a company that will facilitate our waste and transform it into something useful. Not to mention it is also generating money to our school at no cost - simply our time. This is a great opportunity for others to participate in such a resourceful organization. Terracycle has brought our school close to $1,000 since we began participating in the program. Mind you, that was $1,000 our school did not have, especially in the extreme deficit our state is currently in. We take pride in helping our children learn that the Earth is not a big trash receptacle, but something that we need to respect and take care of. So next time before you write a comment and say someone is leaving a "negative footprint,” do your research first. - Irene Nelson, Read more:  http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/feb/21/recycling-critic/?partner=yahoo_feeds#ixzz1EcRXr8ml  - vcstar.com