Governors Island maintenance is performed by Wildcat Service Organization.The Wildcats are in charge of making sure that Governor Island (GI) is clean, as well as facilitating some of the landscape maintenance. The crew works closely with Earth Matter to capture and divert materials from the Island’s waste stream.
This month we highlight our three year collaboration with Victor Havrisko, one of crew’s supervisors.
Victor is a native Staten Islander whose grandma was a farmer in Michigan. Growing up in a progressive family, he worked with his Mom to bring the family home a little extra money – $40- $50 a week – by cashing in cans. There was always the understanding “that putting plastic in a landfill is horrible. The plastic will be here after we are gone. It is a sin to use plastic bags.” Victor previously worked at Snug Harbor Cultural Center when Dept. of Sanitation NY (DSNY) partnered in public compost “give aways” at Midland Beach. Resource stewardship comes naturally to Victor.
Appreciative of the 12 new DSNY source separation stations, Victor said that “more, bigger cans, and ganging all four cans together, especially the blue can with the narrow hole in the middle, went a long way this summer to keep the Island cleaner and less contaminated than ever”. Victor and the Wildcats strategize with us to get the best source separation results possible from the crowds at hugely popular events such as Jazz Age. Victor’s goal? “Get GI to produce as little waste as possible.”
“Want to know who the #1 recyclers on GI are?” he asks.” It’s the picnickers. They bring their own Tupperware and forks, and they take them home.”