When I was a kid, in the 50’s and 60’s, we wrapped our garbage in newspaper, then placed it in brown paper grocery bags. When we had to empty the trash can, we dumped it in the burn barrel and burned it. The trash collector picked up the “clinkers” from our coal burning furnace, and any debris that wouldn’t burn in our burn barrel. Everyone in the neighborhood had a burn barrel. I’ve always hated plastic (though there are many life saving medical supplies made from it; I give them an exception). I wonder how much harm the manufacturer and use of all this plastic does. I’m no eco-nut, and I think the climate crisis is a total fraud, but except for medical or scientific needs, I would love to do without most plastics. We all managed to get along without most of it. (Well, ok..a little nylon can’t be all bad).
And bring back burn barrels! They can’t POSSIBLY be worse than landfills leaking into ground water.
And remember when they picked up our old newspapers, nicely bundled, AND PAID US for them.
I'd love to do without plastics, too.
Paper bags worked for us back then. Burning worked until we added plastics to the mix.