Faithful recyclers awarded weekly by plant director

Some awards are presented for a person’s achievements.

Allan Rathe’s recycling award is presented for a person’s garbage can.

Every week, Rathe, director of the physical plant, travels into a random building on campus and dives into a random trash can, looking for recyclable materials such as paper and aluminum cans.

If Rathe doesn’t see any recyclable materials inside, the can’s owner wins the award for that week.

Each award winner receives a mention in the university newsletter as well as a secret prize.

The prize is “recyclable and very useful,” Rathe said.

Rathe started the award program about a year ago after recycling bins were placed in all faculty, staff, administration and student worker offices on campus. Since he began handing out awards, Rathe said recycling efforts on campus have improved tremendously.

“The vast majority of faculty, staff, administration and student workers here do a fantastic job of recycling,” Rathe said.

Last year, Eastern’s recycling program won national awards from both the National Recycling Coalition and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Eastern recycles a variety of materials from paper and steel to tires and computers. A complete list of the materials Eastern will recycle is available at the university’s Web site at http://www.eiu.edu/~physplnt/recyclin.shtml.

Only trash cans in offices are eligible for this award, Rathe said. Cans in places such as residence halls are off-limits since he doesn’t want to invade students’ privacy, Rathe said.

A lot of people have asked him to examine their garbage lately, but he will continue to present the award to a random person, he said.

“Be prepared,” Rathe said. “I can show up anytime, anyplace.”

Rathe also warned that he does not accept any excuses for not recycling.

“I look in a wastebasket and find some paper, and the No. 1 excuse people give is `I didn’t put that in there.’ Legally, I can’t give the award to them then,” Rathe said.