Residents of the plant

The Resource Recovery Plant employs 19 workers – 15 are full-time employees, and it only takes four to run. The plant has a zero percent turnover rate.

Besides its human inhabitants, animals in the plant can be a nuisance, but are not considered a threat.

Birds, raccoons and skunks – if they jump out of a load when it comes in – are let go.

Mongo, a large stuffed bear, lives at the plant.

“We found [him] in the garbage and we decided he looked like one of our employees, so we adopted him,” Hanson said.

They also have a stuffed black panther, three toy dinosaurs and three large green eyeballs that belong to Weidner.

Many times cats and other small animals will enter the facility, though one time they were asked to find a cat belonging to an elderly woman. The cat was found hiding in a couch that had been thrown away.

Lost and Found

When people accidentally throw away items, the plant workers search through the pile of trash to find them.

“The garbage people really know what’s coming in,” said Lorrie Hanson, principal clerk at the Resource Recovery Plant. “If you know who your hauler is and when they picked up your garbage, if it’s the same day, we can catch that truck coming in to dump and separate it from the other pile.”

Hanson said they would like the caller to come in and help search for the lost items.

“We don’t have the manpower to send people out on the floor and spend who knows how long [searching],” she said.

Rob Weidner, lead operator, said they sometimes come across some interesting items.

“We get a lot of old photos and old newspapers that are pretty cool,” Weidner said. “We found a whole bunch of German Nazi uniforms and all of the decorations.”

They have been asked to recover wallets, television remote controls, cell phones and wedding rings. The plant boasts a 50 percent recovery.

At the beginning of the summer, they get a lot of little kid’s swimming pools. They have found suitcases with clothes in them, a lot of kegs and once even found a motorcycle.

– Jessica Anderson