Refuse. Pollution. Debris.
Garbage. Litter. Trash.
Waste has been with us since the beginning of human civilization. What we do with our garbage is very much influenced by economic and cultural needs. When times were prosperous, waste was abundant and quickly discarded. Once life became difficult through war, a depressed economy, famine or disease, we became more conscious of what we threw away and how it could be reused.
Some common items have found new uses when recycled. Cloth rags have been reborn as paper, old linen and drapery transformed into clothing, plastic bags converted into rugs. All this was done in the name of thriftiness and necessity.
The motivation for recycling efforts beginning in the later 20th Century is primarily environmental in most western countries. People in North America are salvaging because it is culturally expected, not out of necessity.
photo courtesy Galt Museum and Archives.
Patriotic Recycling
To aid in the war effort, citizens of the allied nations were encouraged by their governments to donate materials for recycling, as a contribution to the war effort and as an expression of patriotism. Recycling materials at home also meant more resources went overseas to the warfront. This increased the chance of victory at war.
By January of 1942, Lethbridge had two Salvage depots. One was in the north and one was in the south. By 1943, over 20,000 pounds of scrap iron, 100 pounds of fat, and 3000 pounds of waste paper and cardboard had been salvaged. The Salvage centres were run by volunteers from various organizations including the Boy Scouts, the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire and various Ladies Church Auxiliaries.
Advertisements, newspaper articles and posters published by the National Salvage Committee encouraged citizens to participate and show their loyalty to Canada.
The above ad was posted in the January 1942 edition of the Lethbridge Herald
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