Yesteryear's Recycling Compared To Today's

Keep it out of the dump in the 1st place!

Back in the days..* We used to flatten and tear off the labels on our cans for the can man (or 'Ball' jar our own home growns)

* Drink from water glasses (not plastic bottles)

* Since we had a cistern for FREE water, we didn't let the water run till it got cold. We had a bottle in the refrigerator.

* Repaired American Made long lasting metal small appliances, rather then throw plastic ones out every couple years.

* Meat came in wax paper, not Styrofoam & plastic

* Egg cartons (paper) went back to the egg lady to refill

* Reupholster the solid wood furniture that we'd keep a lifetime

* Cloth diapers (not paper)

* Refilled our milk, soda and beer bottles that had deposits on them.

* Fruit & vegetables came in reused wooden baskets and boxes (not plastic wrapped Styrofoam)

* Paper or cloth grocery bags

* We used our paper grocery bags for our trash. Which we later placed in a "Trash Can".

* Used Tupperware for lunchtime sandwiches.

* Baked in the Winter. It helped heat the house.

* Used a shoe maker or tailor for repairs

* Used actual cooking pots & pans instead of 3 layers of synthetic packaging to microwave & toss

* Cookies came from the oven, not from a package

* Waited from the bread man or the huckster rather then drive (saved fuel for America)

* Didn't need playground equipment. We had trees to climb or swing from

* Didn't have a pool in the backyard. All our friends were down at the pool anyway (& the girls)

* When the knees wore out in your jeans over the Winter.. you had a pair of shorts for the summer

* Yesterdays undershirts were tomorrow's cleaning/polishing cloths

* Dish towels were our paper towels

* Outdoor playtime snacks were wild strawberries, mulberries, and fruit trees around the hood

* Cigar boxes and coffee cans were storage containers

* We didn't throw our phones away every time the contract was up. ("Passing Notes" was "texting")

* "Fast Food" didn't come in Styrofoam, wrappers and a bag. It came in a can (Chef Boyardee)

* Coffee was served in a mug from the home percolator

* Board games lasted for years w/o the need for electric. Nor required buying the latest version for hundreds of $'s

Please feel free to add to the list

Things that are an improvement..* Pictures are now stored on harddrive rather then photo paper

* Sound files instead of vinyl records

* eMail rather then expensive postal snail mail hand delivered days later

* Internet news/magazine delivery rather then paper hard copy junk mail

* Computer stored documents and files

* Solid state instead of high energy consuming vacuum tubes

* Low energy consuming microwave and home heating devices, appliances & light bulbs

* Moved away from toxic coal heating furnaces

* Heavy reliance on internet instead of trip to library for all those costly paper produced reference books

* Water efficient washers, appliances and water heads

* Fuel efficient automobiles