Campus Recycling’s Unsung Hero: Tim Harper
For more than two decades, Tim Harper has sorted City College’s recycling by hand, teaching students along the way and taking pride in keeping the campus clean.
By Danielle Flores
Across from Bungalow 609, Tim Harper, 65, one of only three workers in the recycling department at Ocean Campus, takes his chain of keys and unlocks the blue recycling bin door to begin sorting the recycling.
He is wearing blue latex gloves, a black mask and a black apron, which he says he wears on top of his clothes “to keep clean.” He moves quickly, pulling out a plastic bag and paper plate from the recycling bin and putting them into the landfill bin. He pulls out a napkin with his prongs and drops it in the compost.
“I do this now so when I go to the dock, I don’t have to separate, I just pour it where it belongs,” he said, pulling out a plastic bag and paper plate from the recycling bin and putting them into the landfill bin.
“This goes to the recycling, compost, or landfill. I don’t touch the landfill. The custodians usually do the landfill,” Harper adds. He pulls out plastic packaging with a black tray inside. “This is tricky. Actually, this goes into the waste,” Harper says, referring to the outer plastic packaging as he places it into the landfill bin. He drops the remaining black tray into the recycling.
“I go real fast,” Harper says, smiling behind his mask and laughing. “Sometimes. I have to watch out for the rodents in here. It scares me a lot, I don’t want to get bit,” Harper says.
Harper has been working at City College for over 22 years. Before working in the recycling department, he worked at the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies department for 12 years. He then applied for the institute utility worker position. In addition to his work in both departments, Harper has also completed coursework as a student at City College.
He has received a certificate in custodial training and taken classes in construction safety, blueprint reading, business and real estate. Harper took evening classes and balanced working at the college with working event security at the Moscone Center.
When asked what has kept him working at City College for so long, he says it’s the environment. He likes people and enjoys engaging with students. “Because if they weren’t here, I wouldn’t have a job,” Harper said.
Tim describes his day-to-day interaction with the students including his outreach work where he educates students to ensure they “put stuff in the right can.” He describes watching the students first, and seeing how they will sort their items.
“You know, I tell them to watch the signs, ‘look at the signs,’and read the material that’s on the actual unit,” Harper says.
Harper’s outreach initiative is an example of the Recycling Center’s goal to, “to implement sustainable practices to support the CCSF community” through action and education, according to the recycling center’s online page.
Harper often attributes his success in his work to the leadership and recycling education he’s received under Carlita Martinez, City College’s Recycling/Waste Reduction Coordinator.
“It’s wonderful working here. You have your freedom but you have to do the work and it’s hard work. There’s incredible people here who are pretty smart. I didn’t think I’d have a job like this. [I want to] thank Carlita for everything she’s done and teaching me what to do,” Harper says.
An interview tried to be conducted with Martinez, however we were unable to connect.
Harper often works with student workers and continues to share his recycling knowledge and education with them. Last semester, he was working with two student workers, one of whom wants to become a classified worker at the college.
Antonio Quilici, another of the three recycling workers at Ocean Campus, says that Harper is a great mentor.
“He’s very dedicated to his job and has a lot of pride in CCSF. He’ll go and support local sporting events,” Quilici says.
“I like academics first, but sports I really love,” Harper says.
Harper plans to retire in two years, when he turns 67. When asked about his retirement plans and whether he would go back to school, Harper says he’s focused on investing more. He wants to buy more shares and currently has some land in Arkansas.
