We didn’t invent recycling. Or re-use. Or upcycling. There was a time when containers were not purchased. Pay for an empty box? Huh? Consider the following.
Glass was the go-to container for jars for things like jelly and mayonnaise. Use them up and voila! You had a drinking glass or a jar for storing screws and nails. Think of the brown paper grocery sacks that we brought in for collecting valentines from classmates. Band-aids came in a tin perfect for coins. Cigar boxes were excellent for crayons. Large tins became sewing baskets or storage for photographs. What about cardboard shoeboxes? What would I use today to make a diorama of Yellowstone National Park if there was only a piece of plastic that tied my new shoes together?
The Campfire Marshmallow tin was my grandmother’s and was always filled with her chocolate chip cookies. Needless to say, I am very fond of it. Today it is filled with her matchbook collection and that is a fun story for another day. I’ll bet you a warm Tollhouse cookie that no one was ever sentimental about a clamshell package that required garden shears to open.
We used BandAid tins yo bury our tiny turtles.
A brilliant (but sad) example of re-use!
My mother saved every bread bag that came into our house. ☺️