Trash then and now

Gardenlover said:
Back when I was just a boy, we used to have one day a year (Spring cleaning) where you could put anything you wanted out at the curb and the city would come by and pick it up. As a kid this was a gold mine, as we'd wander the streets picking up items for our forts, etc. I came home once with the front fender of a motorcycle, thinking in time I would collect all the pieces needed to build a complete motorcycle. My dad took one look at it, shook his head - gave me "The Look" and told me to throw it on our trash pile.
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What a hilarious story - I can totally picture both your delight at the prospect of eventually piecing together a motorcycle and your father's reaction to your plan. Too funny.
 

Since we moved to the boondocks, 18 years ago, I've had no need for trash service. If it's combustible, I burn it in my burn pit...the smoke and carbon drifts into our heavy forest, where it is captured by the trees, and becomes "fertilizer" for them. What little "edible" items we dispose of goes into the garden, where either the critters get it, or it, too, becomes fertilizer. We have a good recycle center about 5 miles away that takes anything metal....cans, etc., so I rinse them, and take them there. About the only thing I keep is an occasional glass container, which I wash and put in my workshop to hold small parts, etc. If we have something like a TV, or small appliance break down, there is another recycle center about halfway to our favorite casino, so I take it there, and they handle that. At about $15/month for trash service here, I figure I've saved myself well over $3000, and have not added to the massive piles of waste that are collecting all over the world.
 
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We have a burn barrel and a burn pit...Due to drought conditions, in Texas, we have to have a Burn Permit (Free) and have certain days to burn. Large fires,like brush and branches we must call and notify the County in the case of someone seeing the smoke and calling the Fire Department.
 
Another great treat was our weekly burn the dump night out. Thursday was open landfill day, so Friday night, me and 2 or 3 buddies would head to the landfill and light her up. 🙂 Sometimes we'd get lucky and the rats would swarm, so we'd have lots of targets to pop with the old trusty 22. (sigh) I miss those nights. Easily amused I guess. ;)
 
When I was growing up, nearly everyone had a wooden compost bin in their backyards, so all kitchen scraps... vegetable peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds, all went into the compost, and nearly everyone had a burn barrel, and when fall rolled around, you could see smoke rising and smell the sweetness in the air, because everyone had a burn pile on the go in their yards.

Everything in the way of appliances, toys, and general household things was made better, to a much higher standard, so things lasted longer, and while I remember disposable diapers being on the market, no one that I knew used them, so there wasn't all of the endless diaper waste that we see today, and being a more thrifty and frugal time, most families I knew enjoyed the likes of hand-me-downs, and whatever could be fixed, repaired, or mickey-moused together, was. Buying extra use and time out of things was the way of the day among everyone I knew.

I remember it like yesterday, bicycle tire tube patch kits. When we'd get a flat, out came the patch kit. I remember those old patch kits well, because it seemed someone always had a flat, and while name brands were alive and well, there wasn't the ridiculous variety back in the day like we see today, so more people shopped freely, buying only what they needed, rather than buying just to buy, because such and such a brand just came out with this, or just came out with that.

Pants patches are another thing I remember well... ugly as sin, but a way to extend the life of a pair of pants with no knees or seat left in them, and going back to my previous mention of hand-me-downs... baby cribs, highchairs, changing tables... everyone passed their old baby furniture down to and along to neighbours, family, and friends, so everything was utilized to the nth, for all it was worth.

Another thing I remember... single vehicle families, where people relied on one vehicle and one vehicle only, and with the absence of television shows like HGTV, where people gut perfectly beautiful homes of seemingly brand new and perfectly useable household things such as sinks, bathtubs, flooring, etc, just so they can have a home with the newest and latest and greatest of things, people (back in the day) actually updated and added-onto their homes for all the right reasons, not just to keep up with the Jones's.

And so much more...
 
Grampa Don said:
There was a TV show called Dirty Jobs, with Mike Rowe. One episode was about a guy who actually collected garbage and fed it to his pigs. It was some nasty looking stuff, but apparently pigs will eat about anything.

Don
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Well, then the opossums & raccoons I feed would be considered "spoiled." I check the dates on the hazelnuts, mango & cat kibble before I feed them & if it's expired, I throw it out & buy fresh.
Tonight, they're having broiled Salmon & potatoes.
 
Gardenlover said:
Back when I was just a boy, we used to have one day a year (Spring cleaning) where you could put anything you wanted out at the curb and the city would come by and pick it up. As a kid this was a gold mine, as we'd wander the streets picking up items for our forts, etc....
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That's how I got my first microscope, test tubes, slides, and chemistry set! A former teacher put it out with other, less interesting stuff, on the tree lawn - From my excitement, you would have thought that I had found gold! My parents didn't believe that I had gotten it by legitimate means and made me show them from whence my treasure trove came. The gentleman convinced them that it was fine - I believe he was pleased with my interest. Truly, those were the good old days!
 


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