ose WHAT MILLY THE REMARKABLE PIONEER OF PLASTICS RECYCLING DID Elise Moser PICTURES BY SCOT RITCHIE GROUNDWOOD BOOKS HOUSE OF ANANSI PRESS TORONTOBERKELEY
To everyone who makes the world better with creativity determination and hard work especially those of you who may never be recognized for your efforts This is for you with love
Milly Zantow Changed the World You’ve probably never heard of her She wasn’t a superstar or a princess She didn’t invent lifesaving medicines or the internet or candy that fizzes inside your mouth But she did create something you probably see every day And because of her there’s a lot less plastic garbage in the world Milly was born on an Oklahoma farm in 1923 almost a hundred years ago There were seven kids in her family living with their parents in a small house with only four rooms As soon as Milly was old enough to talk she went to live with her grandmother who lived in her own little house on the farm There as a small child Milly started working Milly’s grandmother kept a loom in the kitchen the
warmest room in the house and she would weave rugs likely from strips of old clothing while Milly sat on a little stool tending the warp strings so they didn’t snag While they worked together Milly’s grandma sang to her or told her stories At that time people reused everything they could because they had to There was no recycling as it exists now but people found new uses for all sorts of things at home
