Joe, it is "waste not, want not" in my kitchen, too! Once I discovered my former catering partner
pitching egg whites, we 2 immediately sat down for a lesson on how to freeze the things. I also consistently wash and re-use Ziplock bags, and Mary Ann hadn't thought of that either.
I no longer recycle paraffin, but when I was a little girl and Mom would make jams or jellies, she would seal the tops of the jars with melted paraffin. Then whenever we'd open a fresh jar of jelly, the solidified paraffin would be removed and promptly washed, dried and saved in an empty coffee can to be remelted and reused during our next jelly or jam-making session. I was just thinking about this the other day when I pitched a small piece of paraffin--I'm sure Mother was turning over in her grave! ha!