The West Lagoon has undergone a major cleanup by NIU Physical Plant workers due to excessive garbage in the lagoon and the surrounding area.

Conrad Miller, administration and support services project manager of the physical plant, said “spring of the year is always hard on cleanup.” Physical plant workers maintain an ongoing process to keep the lagoon clean, he said.

Miller said garbage might blow from the recycling center west of Stevenson Towers. When the wind blows hard, papers and other items to be recycled blow toward the residence halls and the lagoon, he said.

Miller said the recycling center needs people to secure materials waiting to be recycled. “It (materials) is just accumulating over there. No one is recycling it,” he said.

“It (the recycling center) needs a cyclone fence around the whole thing,” he said. “The fence will eliminate problems in the West Lagoon.”

David Broustis, recycling center director, said, “most of the stuff (garbage accumulated around the lagoon) is the garbage of the students.” Most of the garbage is beer bottles, cans and other items that students have left there from parties or thrown from windows, he said.

“We try as much as we can to keep things clean, but it does get windy. There is a fence around the recycling plant but the stuff just blows over it,” Broustis said.

He said there definitely is an overabundance of material to be recycled. “We desperately need volunteers to help. We are overburdened with the amount (of recyclable material) that comes in,” he said.

He said two people are paid to work at the center, and they meet on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to clean up and recycle some of the material, he said.

“We have an aluminum crusher and a plastic and glass grinder,” Broustis said. The center also collects paper, which is picked up and shipped by outside buyers, he said.

“Every Saturday is our big day,” Broustis said. Judicial workers and volunteers have helped at the recycling plant, he said. Some SA senators will help at the plant Saturday, he said.