What Milly Did: The Remarkable Pioneer of Plastics Recycling

Gr 2–5—The inspiring story of Milly Zantow and her groundbreaking work in plastics recycling is well told in this slim volume. After learning her town's landfill was close to overflowing and poisonous materials were leaking into the water supply, Zantow began to brainstorm solutions. She was already inspired by her 1978 visit to Japan, where she observed the practice of separating waste and recycling. Worried about the long life span of plastic, Zantow went on to create a successful plastics recycling program in her town and motivated other communities to do the same. Perhaps most significant, she came up with the number and triangle system, which we still use to identify different types of plastics—an innovation that made large-scale recycling easier. Zantow's many years of hard work and experimentation are detailed in highly readable text divided into short, digestible sections. Sidebars on related topics, such as the first boat made of recyclable plastic and the infamous garbage barge debacle of 1987, are included throughout. Moser traces popular attitudes toward recycling with an emphasis on how rationing during World War II had left a bad impression on the United States in regard to recycling and reusing.