In the old days at least some people used the trash can without a liner. Every so often you’d wash/scrub the trash can. I dimly remember that from the late 1960’s. We’d have small trash cans throughout the house. The ones in the kitchen and bathroom got emptied daily into a larger can with a lid in the garage or just outside which is the one that got really stinky.
Yep, newspapers and paper grocery bags were used to wrap/contain wet messes