When frugality was a virtue

Likewise, much of what gets thrown away in contemporary America would have been, as a matter of course, repurposed. Wood ashes would have gone on the vegetable garden. Old fabric scraps were made into paper.

Kitchen garbage was naturally fed to livestock and put into garden compost. Tattered clothing was cut into strips for rug-making or quilts. When an outbuilding was torn down, the lumber was repurposed for another building project. And, of course, there simply wasn’t the plethora of disposable packaging that is so common in today’s commercial society.

You’re so trashy

The disposal of product “wastes” in America has seen an exponential increase in quantity in the past century. In a mere one-hundred years they’ve grown from only 92 pounds of throw-away trash per person per year to a staggering 1,242 pounds per person per year. Do the math on that for yourself.

It’s upsetting. more....