Now days, recycling is very much about conservation of the environment, but back in the 40s/50s... it was more to do with getting rid of the junk. Junk that was discarded was often seconded to further use, sometimes for an entirely different purpose from their original one. My generation, did not care enough to save our environment for future generations. Industry in my area polluted everything, when I was young.
I was a teenager in the 50s; maybe nostalgia isn't what it used to be? Personally, I had a great time, but in forty years, how many of today's teenagers will be telling everyone how good it was in their day?
We started to become environmentally aware in the late 60's and 70's because, of smog and water pollution. The gas crises of the 70's introduced small, more fuel efficient cars.
My point is, "Back in the day" varies from person to person. And while some people grew up in wooden houses, with one electric outlet, wood stove, and no dryer; others lived in brick houses, with ten electric outlets, maybe a dishwasher, and a gas powered car. Since the dawn of humans; people have complained about the last generation making everything worse for the new generation.
We weren't being environmentally conscious back then, but we did live a much simpler life. Being environmental, I didn't even know what the hell, the word meant?
So what did we have back then? After some reflection and soul-searching, here's, what I remember, we did do and have…...
Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles, and beer bottles, to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. Thus, they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
For example: machine items, metals and furniture, we usually threw it in the alley or some nearby field to rot. If Sheeny Rosy's junk yard paid for scrap that week, we might drag it down the alley, and deposit it at their front gate (only if they weren't there) with a note on it saying, that they ''owe us'' for the junk.
And furniture that was tossed, always found it's way into another home, or in someone's back yard, where kids could jump up and down on it like monkeys.
Kids tended to be more creative. We recovered bottles for 2 cent refunds. Also, tins, old tires, timber, and machine parts or, if really fortunate-- ball-bearings; that would be the envy of all our sling shot shooting friends!
We were lucky(?) enough to live close to the junk yard, where a lot of businessses would dump their surplus salvage. The drunk next door was a great believer in "re-cycling" and spent many hours roaming alleys and fields with his 'Radio Flyer Red Wagon' picking up returnable bottles and junk, all day, to get a few bucks to get a case of beer, and a quart of whiskey, where he would sit all night drinking and singing like a tanked-up wacko in his smelly ass 'shed.'
The town dump nearby was popular, particularly with the boys, because, we could go rummage through all the garbage and see what we needed. ''That was a good recycling method.'' Also, the place was infested with gigantic rats, and so provided: a very exciting hunting ground to use our sling shots and BB guns.. Not very humane, though!
Some other less-obvious recycled items were bottle-tops (different colored tops had different values for swapping); cigarette butts that we found and carefully unrolled for the loose tobacco, so we could sell to the twelve and thirteen year old punks in need of a hearty smoke.
Back in the old days after the war, middle class families bought too much and consumed too much in the first place, and therefore, had more to throw away (more to recycle).I remember, having no concern for the origins of food, and had no notion of what recycling was?? I thought it was riding my bike around the block, a few times, for the hell of it!
What I can relate to is being driven around as a child, in a car that got probably 10 miles per gallon. I can recall throwing garbage out the car window: like pop bottles, beer bottles, bags, anything and everything-- that got in our way, and cluttered up the car.
As I recall, everyone, that I knew, was pretty reckless with the environment. A lot of neighbors used to burn trash in their backyards, dump garbage and slop into the alleys and streets.
And trees that drop their leaves, during autumn, as cold weather approaches. ? We used to rake all the foliage: sprigs, stipule, twigs, limbs, by the curb and sprinkle charcoal lighter fluid on it, and watch the whole block get filled up with dense smoke. Now and then, some trees would catch on fire-- where the fire department had to come and hose down the mess, leaving the whole damn block in an unorderly disarray.
Or what about this ecosystem exercise? Being told to wash paint off your hands with gasoline and toss the remains in the alley. Or watching, boneheaded neighbors dump used motor oil, gas and antifreeze on the ground, by the side of their barns. ''No wonder the alley and the sheds were always on fire.''
AND, Dogs!!...''nobody cleaned up dog shit back in those days.'' Dogs that weren't in their backyard alley cages eating food scraps, thrown to them from their owners-- ran around the neighborhood chasing kids on bikes, barking and shitting, wherever, and whenever they wanted. Among other things: we had inebriated dog catchers that roamed the neighborhood streets (after a complaint call) with paddy wagons that spewed nau·se·at·ing fumes, from their tailpipes, that engulfed the whole neighborhood with black, sooty smoke.
NOW, THAT WAS OUR ENVIRONMENTAL AND RECYCLING PRACTICES BACK IN THE GOOD OLD' DAYS.
Source : articlesbase.com
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