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What we call "recycling" was a way of life for folks who survived the Great Depression. Things weren't thrown away; they were used and re-used and re-used some more until they just wore out. They even found a use for the "Monkey Wards" catalog that had been delivered to the mailbox for free. As an adult I often visited my aunts after they had retired from the farm. I no longer had to stroll down a well-beaten path to a small 4-by-4 building behind the old house to browse the Sears Wishbook, but they were still recycling stuff and getting rather creative with it. I would never have thought of washing the plastic bread wrapper after the loaf had been eaten and using it as a sandwich bag. When the last of my aunts passed away, I had the formidable task of cleaning out the garage. There was no trash, just a whole lot of stuff that they might have found a use for some day.
By Ben Chastain
