Growing up in a large family, we wasted nothing and reused everything we could. Raised by two survivors of the Great Depression, my siblings and I learned to compost early on. Every scrap went into growing the garden for the next season.

Clothes got passed down to the next child. Plastic margarine tubs held paint and we saved every Campbell’s Soup label for some contest that shaved pennies off the grocery bill.

These habits carried into my adult life as I mend clothes to extend their lifespan. I love to thrift shop and I recycle every item I can.

That’s why I started the year with glee, knowing that the province’s blue box program diverted more plastics. I was more excited about this than Christmas!

It’s all part of a move to shift the responsibility for recycling programs to the........

© Peterborough Examiner