Lack of Plastic (Greener Alternatives)

By accident, life was a lot more eco-friendly in a lot of ways in the 1950's. There was a lot less plastic around! Garbage cans were made of metal and when they got rusty, people got their steel wool out, rubbed that rust off and re-painted their cans. Imagine that!

Little plastic baggies you've grown to love weren't around. Sandwiches were often wrapped in wax paper or wax paper bags, which you can still buy today. People opted for glass containers when storing their food. Much safer for your food and for our modern life, microwave friendly (plastic containers are not).

Bottled water was obviously unheard of and hopefully, many of you have made the switch to refillable bottles and have relied on faucet or refrigerator filters. Filtered water's a convenience I'd be hard pressed to give up, but you're still better off filtering your tap water, which is regulated, than buying "spring" water, which is not regulated. Plus, beverages taste better out of glass than they do out of plastic. Remember back in the 70's and 80's, when all Coke and Pepsi was bottled in glass? It does taste better! And luckily, you can still buy it that way! And of course milk was in glass bottles. Your best bet on that one is to buy half-gallon boxes of milk because I've yet to find gallons of milk in glass or cardboard anymore. Still, if plastic milk jugs is the worst thing you do, you're doing okay!

Think you can handle not using a gas-powered lawnmower? People in the 50's had power mowers, but push mowers were still the common standard. Not only is the push mower better for the Earth and your wallet (gas prices anyone?), it's better for your exercise! Plus, they're low to no maintenance.

And yep, you can still buy them. And of course, they raked their leaves because, while the leaf blower was technically invented in the late 50's, it was invented as a crop spraying tool for farms. Besides, the strain on your back from lugging a leaf blower around is no fun. The exercise from raking is far better on your health.

Lunch boxes that your kids took to school weren't plastic either. They, too, were metal. There are still a lot of metal lunchboxes out there!

And, if you've got a baby in your home, consider wooden teething toys and rattles for him instead of plastic ones. And bibs and burp cloths needn't be plastic either! And, of course, baby was wearing cloth diapers in the 50's (and thankfully, they've improved since then)! Want a cool wooden high chair? Try this award-winner on for size (it does have a plastic tray cover though).

Kitchen utensils weren't plastic either. Strainers, spatulas, whisks, dish drying racks and the like were metal. Bowls, cups and containers were glass. We were actually healthier and more eco-friendly 60 years ago than we are today!

So, try and replace even a handful of these items, but don't be wasteful and throw out your old, plastic items, unless they're dangerous or recalled. Donate them to a Goodwill Store or Salvation Army for resale. The product is already in circulation; might as well let someone get use of it!