Driving to Lock Haven University these past nine months, I passed a landfill along Route 220. I can't recall the name, but I have no trouble remembering the stench! It was a sickening odor that permeated the entire area. How people living nearby endure the smell is a mystery to me.

Americans, as a whole, have come a long way in recycling waste, but landfills are quickly filling. It's great news to realize that in 1997, 61 million tons of waste were recycled. The bad news is that Americans produced 217 million tons of municipal solid waste. This still leaves 156 million tons to be disposed of either through incinerators or landfills.

Though for years our family has recycled everything that is acceptable at our local recycling center, but we still add our fair share to the landfill problem. We all do. Traveling by this particular landfill has made me pay special attention to what I add with my garbage.

Maybe what we need to do is get the manufacturers of household products-ones whose packaging is not recyclable-and have them live in close proximity to a landfill. And maybe we should file a complaint against all junk mail, whose paper is not recyclable.

And if we shun off the problem of bulging landfills and refuse to recycle, claiming it's too much bother to sort and transport to a recycling center, then we, too, should be forced to live by a landfill. Believe me, it will have a lasting effect!