Milly Zantow
Recycling Pioneer
North Freedom, WI
In 1979, Milly Zantow started doing what no one else was
doing at the time, sorting and recycling plastics. Milly
Zantow started the American recycling revolution from the
recycling center she founded in Sauk County, Wisconsin.
Milly was not an expert in the field of plastics, but her
enthusiasm for recycling was infectious and she was
determined to succeed. Most municipal recycling coordinators
didn’t want to bother recycling plastics back then because
they were too expensive to separate. Milly with the help of
others, found a way around this obstacle by coming up with a
simple way to identify plastics and therefore making them
easier to sort. The idea was to have little numbers inside
the recycling triangles imprinted on plastic containers. By
1988, the Society of Plastics Industry had officially
developed the numbering code idea and it is now used around
the world.
Milly has also received many awards for her recycling
efforts including the 1981 Silver Acorn Award of the
Citizens Natural Resource Association of Wisconsin, the 1986
Al Dipple Award for Outstanding Service to the Area from the
service clubs in Baraboo, and the President's Award of
Recognition from the Wisconsin Planning Association. In
1987, Milly was elected to the National Board of Directors
of the National Recycling Coalition. Milly has also been
recognized by The State of Wisconsin for her work and
received a Certificate of Appreciation from Sauk County in
2010 by the Count Board Chairman Mr. M.F. Kruger. In 2009, a
short documentary was made by Liese Dart from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison of Milly’s story.
Watch trailer for "Plastics One Through Seven" by Liese Dart
about how Milly started the recycling revolution.
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