Since it began in 1975, the Mercer Island Recycle Center has become an enduring, although sometimes overlooked, service to the Island community.

It was a grassroots project, begun by eco-conscious Committee to Save the Earth students from Mercer Island High School. To this day, teenagers continue to run the center, under the guidance of Harry Leavitt.

Yet Leavitt may only have weeks left at the center. He announced plans to retire last month and has pinned his hopes on Committee to Save the Earth to continue running the facility. The students, however, cannot do the job alone.

“We’re looking for an advisor. I’m going to ask teachers at the high school. We need people experienced in this area,” said Tyler Loughran, Committee to Save the Earth vice president.

Loughran has been volunteering at the Recycle Center for two years now. This past summer, she spent two hours a week at the center: sorting through plastics, paper and glass, making sure each product was placed in its respective bin. This, Loughran said, is the most important part of the job.

“You have to know the numbers on the plastics, for example, what you can recycle and what you can’t. If you mix the plastics up, it ends up ruining it,” the MIHS sophomore explained.

As far as Loughran knows, there are only a few students who have volunteered to run the center once Leavitt retires. And with the pressures of school, an adult supervisor is sorely needed; so needed that the center will most likely shut down if the students don’t find anyone.

“I’m pretty worried about it,” Loughran said. “I’m hoping we’ll eventually find somebody. If we don’t, then the recycling center might shut down, and that would be horrible.”

The center has already trimmed its hours. Earlier this year, the center reduced its open days to Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It was previously open on Sundays, but closed because the schedule conflicted with the Sunday farmers market.

Most Islanders dispose of their recyclables in curbside bins. They have been doing so for years, since Allied Waste signed a contract with the city. Yet the center serves other purposes, Leavitt says.

“What about when people have too much stuff to fit their bins? When people want to clean out their garage?” he asked rhetorically.

Others show up for social reasons.

“We have a lady who comes and feeds the cats here every week. Some people come down to pick up old National Geographics from our shelf. It’s a gathering place,” he said.

Although Leavitt can no longer put the time in, he hopes dearly that the Recycle Center will continue.

Financially, things have become harder over the years. Prices are dropping for recyclables, and so the MI center, which is a non-profit organization, has less income to work with. Leavitt mentioned that Island individuals have offered to help finance the center, yet a set plan has not been developed.

“We have a list of people who are longtime supporters and willing to serve [the Recycle Center] financially,” he said. “There have been people moved to tears about the possibility of this place shutting down. It’s been called a community treasure, a community asset.”

Leavitt is ambivalent about the center’s future as much is up in the air. The most he can hope for is that his volunteer students find a committed advisor.

“We’re doing what we can, and we’ll see,” he said.