Bummie was the first person I knew that recycled. I think she just got used to it during the Great Depression and the war (rationing) that followed. She believed "Waste Not, Want Not" was a good discipline to live by. She kept string and rubber bands and twisty-ties. Paper bags from the grocery store were folded neatly and stashed between the refrigerator and wall. There was a jar on the back porch that she kept for random nails and screws that she'd find while digging around in the flower garden or on walks. Wrapping paper was saved. Cards were saved [and later made into decorative garbage cans like the one she kept in her bedroom].
The bottom drawer of the cabinet to the right of her kitchen sink held clean, folded pieces aluminum foil to be re-used when needed and empty bread bags. Cans were rinsed out and their tops and bottoms removed before the can was stepped on to flatten. Then the top and bottoms of the can were slid inside and stacked together with the other cans. Vegetable scraps went in one pile; meat scraps in another. She didn't use a lot of pre-made mixes, so although she had company once or twice a week her weekly garbage was one small paper-bag size bag. Paper was set aside to be burned in the furnace on cold nights.
