We’ve become a throwaway culture in an era where it is often cheaper to buy a new one than repair the old one. It’s hard to reuse cheap plastic or fix something that needs advanced knowledge of circuitry.
During World War II, Americans recycled for an important cause: their own. Rationing encouraged reuse, too. It wasn’t green living, it was surviving.
Gov. Coke Stevenson declared a “clean-up week” for April 4-10, 1943. In a story on April 4, the Express said the “week is undertaken to correct fire and health hazards,” like the ones they photographed on a drive through the city:
However, the clean-up could also uncover (in a great bit of propaganda) “scrap metal that could help ax the Axis; old rubber tires and articles that could aid the Allies blot out bondage; trash, old clothing, broken bottles, and an assortment of other items that breed disease and sickness, effective weapons of Adolph, Benito and Hirohito in their ill-fated war against humanity.”
I guess if San Antonians couldn’t be bothered “to clean up in the interest of their own health” or to prevent their homes from going up like tinder boxes, perhaps they’d do it to fight Hitler.
If your home or yard looks like that right now, it might be time to have a clean-up week of your own. The weather is nice — and no Axis required.
To recycle your stuff, check out the mySA directory.