A scheme that encourages us to reduce litter and waste through recycling and provides funds back to the community has to be a good thing. Recycling, however, is only a tiny part of the answer to our environmental woes.

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To really reduce waste, the "five Rs" are worth following: refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle, in that order. As consumers, before we buy, we should be asking ourselves whether we really need each item.

The decision to not buy stuff can save kilograms of greenhouse gas pollution. In this decisive decade for climate action, we all need to make changes in our daily lives and following the five Rs is a great place to start.

FOLLOWING the e-scooter incident involving Launceston resident James Newton (The Examiner, January 4), I also want to highlight that my husband and I were almost hit by two people "riding" the Beam e-scooters (the purple ones) whilst walking along the footpath on Paterson Street past Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.

These people were coming from the opposite direction, so we moved over to the extreme left of the footpath, when they deliberately came towards us on an angle and had the audacity to yell to get out of the way.

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If this was a vehicle on the road, one could at least take note of a registration number, make and colour details etc.

There is no way to police these reckless riders, so they will end up getting away with putting pedestrians in danger.

IT IS great to see Tasmania's firefighting capacity has been strengthened with the summer aviation fleet. Tasmania now has 12 specialised aircraft on hand; eight helicopters and four fixed-wing planes. These are positioned so they can be moved quickly around the state to respond to any fires.

To ensure a rapid response an additional 20 local aircraft are available to call on. Aerial firefighting capability will be deployed first to attack fires when they start then used to protect firefighters on the ground.

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Not only is it the fires but there is also the smoke which needs to be extinguished ASAP.

Tasmania has the oldest and sickest population and there is now growing evidence of a correlation between air pollution and COVID. There is no safe level of particulate matter.

I LOVE that Lord Scabar is doing something interesting and kind of magical around Launceston. I wish the fairy doors were still around, there are still some little windows if you look up a bit higher on old buildings around town. I love the black cats that are all around now. We have one on our work building, where there was previously a fairy door.

LIKE most people, I am fed up with hearing about COVID and seeing people getting jabs in their arms. With all the numbers being quoted the one I would be interested in is "how many of the people infected, or hospitalised have been fully vaccinated".

This is being completely overlooked. Perhaps the higher headline numbers are more attractive to the media.

Publication of these numbers would give us an idea of our risk for the unvaccinated or the level of protection for those of us fully vaccinated.

ONCE again rich sportspeople get privileges that ordinary Australians do not, exemptions to play sports while not having the same COVID rules that apply to us.

WE should be informed of areas and suburbs where the COVID outbreaks are occurring, as I believe Queensland is keeping the public up to date concerning this.

WITH all that's going on, my biggest thing is kids going back to school. Is it really worth it? I, like many others, am thinking about homeschooling for the first six months, because the worst is yet to come.

THOUSANDS infected in Tasmania, COVID spreading unrestrained. It's OK though, the government has a plan.