Milly Zantow
Time period/Baraboo area: 1966 - 1986
Submitted by: Baraboo Presbyterian Church
Mildred “Milly” Zantow grew up during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl on a farm in Oklahoma, where she learned to make do with what you had or do without. She experienced the rationing and shortages during World War II and had to work hard most of her life.
In 1978 Milly went on a trip to Tokyo, Japan while working as a volunteer with the International Crane Foundation. While there, she noticed that there were little bundles on the curb every day. She learned that the Japanese were separating their waste and putting it out for recycling with each material (glass, paper, metal, etc.) on a different day. The idea of recycling made a lot of sense to her.
When Milly returned home from Japan, the local county landfill was closing early because it was full. She decided to figure out what was going into the landfill. Perhaps some of the material could be recycled instead of burying it in the ground. Most of what we were throwing away was plastic. While people were recycling some paper, glass and metal, it seemed no one was recycling plastic. She learned from the plastic factories in Baraboo and the Borden Milk Company in Milwaukee that pre-consumer plastic mistakes could be ground up, melted down and re-used, so that it must be possible to do post-consumer recycling.
In her research, she discovered that each type of plastic had to be handled separately, and it was hard to figure out which type of plastic an item was, until she developed the numbering system that manufacturers could use, indicating what type of plastic it was. When you see the recycling symbol and number on a plastic item, thank Millie! It all started here in Sauk County.