Regarding the article about thieves taking trash in the March 2 JP Gazette, it may well be that in this age of identity theft it is important for those without wood stoves to shred recycling paper with identifying information on it.

As your article stated, homeless people are not the only people besides identity thieves who go through trash. There are many of us who know that perfectly re-usable things are thrown away by people who can’t be bothered to find new homes from them, and we often reclaim them from the trash to donate to charities that can put them to good re-use.

Marcia Peters
Jamaica Plain