I too am a Scot, brought up by adopted German parents who had survived the Great Depression and WWII. It amuses me that what they taught me as a kid is now seen as ecologically and socially sound practice.

If it broke - we fixed it, we didn't toss it.
If it was organic waste it went into the garden.
If it was a plastic bag, it got tossed into the washer and reused over and over.
If it was a sock with a hole, it got darned.
If it was a missing button, a torn hem, a split seam, it got re-sewn.
We picked what grew wild in the fields around us, grew our own veggies, canned, froze and bought in bulk.
If an errand was under two miles from home, we walked.
We didn't waste toilet paper, electricity, gas, food, pretty much anything.
These lessons were pretty much ingrained in me and today I still follow them and rejoice at being able to put out my recycling bin at least 5 times more often than my garbage bin. And NOTHING beats the taste of a tomato fresh from the garden!