Recycling Before Recycling Was Cool

Today’s economic downturn has had an effect on most Americans, and my household is no exception as we try to accommodate three generations under one roof.

As I try to explain to my grandchildren the “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without” concept, I inform them that I was recycling before recycling was cool.

This arouses their interest because they’re learning all about “living green” in school, and have taken field trips to the Utility Exploration Center, right here in Roseville.

I tell them firsthand, how, during my childhood, we recycled out of necessity, and did our part for the environment before the terms reduce, reuse and recycle became trendy.

• We didn’t have cell phones, our folks just yelled from the front porch when dinner was ready.
• Our clothes were handmade, and we wore them more than once before tossing then in the laundry.
• No plastic water bottles back then, we just drank from the hose when we were thirsty.
• We didn’t have video games; we played stick ball and freeze tag in an empty field.
• We only had one pair of shoes, and placed cardboard in the bottoms when holes wore through the soles.
• We didn’t have a built-in pool, we just ran through the sprinkler.
• We cut the grass with a push mower.
• We didn’t buy school lunches; we carried a sandwich in a paper sack, and then neatly folded the bag to be reused the next day.
• We didn’t have a TV in every room; we sat together and watched television as a family.
• We rode our bikes or walked to school instead of being driven.
• We turned empty coffee cans into stilts, and soup cans into telephones.
• We didn’t need a GPS device to find our way; we knew how to read a map.
• We canned our own fruits, vegetables, jams and jellies.
• Diapers were washed, and hung out to dry — no disposables back then.
• Milk bottles were returned to the milkman to be sanitized and reused.
• We cranked our own homemade ice cream, and stirred cake batter with a large wooden spoon.
• We colored on the back of junk mail, instead of wasting clean sheets of paper.
• Vegetable peelings went into a bucket under the sink, and then out to the compost pile.
• When we got holes in the knees of our pants, we made them into shorts.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to persuade my grandchildren to give up their cell phones or video games, but if I can convince them that I’m cool, I’m okay with that.