In addition to rationing efforts to instill a sense of mutual cooperation among Americans, scrap drives were launched to make up for shortages of critical material like tin and rubber.

Kansas City was a part of the 7th Region of the Office of Price Administration (MO, KS, AK, NE) which proudly led the nation in industrial home salvageÖ.Boy scouts and school students were implored by President Roosevelt himself to help the war effort with these scrap drives.

Scrap Rubber

There was a great need for rubber after supplies from the Dutch East Indies were no longer available. Rubber scrap drives collected old tires by the millions; usable tires for automobiles had to be retread again and again until they were deemed unsafe.

Kansas City, which set aside an 11-acre tract of land for storage of scrap rubber collected in KS and MO. Armed guards protected the dump 24 hrs a day. The Wabash, Burlington & Rock Island Railroad lines were connected to the land. By the end of 1942, 24-35,000 tons had accumulated.

Scrap metal

Car fenders, metal bars, old pipes, oil barrels, and the like were loaded and dumped into vacant lots to be recycled into planes, tanks, ships and guns for ammunition. Kansas City collected over 50,000 tons of scrap metal by the end of 1943 and received a banner for "meritorious service" from the War Production Board.

Paper

Before the war even started, defense industries were pleading for wastepaper, a "peculiar demand". Newspaper headlines told citizens of the uses for their piles of old newspapers, magazines and cardboard boxes. The paper industries decried the need for packing materials and recycled boxes for munitions, canned goods and bullets, with a threaten of higher prices if their demand was not metÖ The paper industry claimed a need of 2 million tons more wastepaper than in normal times, with an increased need the following year.

Waste Fat

Waste fat and grease, normally discarded, became valuable commodities. The housewife was urged to separate and save her garbage, especially tin cans and fat. Fats yield 10% glycerin. And one pound of fat, it was pointed out, contained enough glycerin to make one pound of black powder.

By 1944, KC was leading the nation in number of pounds of grease per capita.

Nylon and silk stockings

Nylons and silk stockings were turned in at salvage drives across the country. Large barrels were set up in stores, schools, offices and factories to collect old silk and nylon. Silk was reprocessed for parachutes and nylon was used for tow-ropes, among other things.

Although they were a profitable sideline for black marketeers. Many women took to wearing cotton socks or slacks out of necessity.

Department stores sometimes sold "service weight" stockings, which were so heavy they made the shapeliest ankle look thick and stodgy. The only alternative was to go bare-legged or use leg makeup -- thick, tan-colored liquid that came with a dauber applicator and a pencil for "drawing" on the seams.