 Estimated hog slaughter was 476,000 head. I'm Brent Barnett, Brownfield. This is John Rosa of the Boone County Landfill. People think recycling is new, but before the modern era, it was a common household activity. Prior to the 1920s, 70% of U.S. cities ran programs to recycle certain materials. During World War II, industry recycled and reused about 25% of the waste stream. Today, that number is up to 34%, but we can still do better.