Every generation re-examines wasteful habits. A father adds food scraps to leaves and grass clippings in the backyard compost pile.
Office workers keep office paper in special bins next to their garbage cans.
All are habits that Americans had 50 years ago, lost and have redeveloped as we have rediscovered the value in wasted resources. Approximately 97 percent of Wisconsin residents say recycling is now a regular part of their lives at home, work and school. Tough laws and progressive incentives have made Wisconsin communities and businesses innovators in reducing residential and business wastes, preventing pollution, buying recycled products, and developing markets for recycled products. Dramatic reductions in our wasteful habits have always been born of necessity. During the Depression, when goods were expensive, metal cans, rags and glass were collected and sold.