Pittsfield man’s job at recycling center part of a ‘pretty good life’

PITTSFIELD – Eric Henry takes his job seriously. The 31-year-old Pittsfield man sorts cardboard, newspaper and office paper at the Pittsfield Recycling Center three days a week.

When residents fail to separate their recyclables correctly, it’s Eric Henry who straightens things out. He’s the one who takes the stray books out of the computer paper from the local middle school. He’s the one who pulls unwanted objects from the cardboard bins, or removes anything other than newspaper from the newspaper piles.

“I go as fast as I can. I only have two hands,” he said this week. “If I had eight hands, I could go a lot faster.”

It’s a simple job and not too glorious – cleaning up other people’s messes – but it makes Henry proud. It puts food on his table and allows him to buy Elvis CDs and cat food for his gray kitty, Smokey, and to go to Subway for Friday night dinner.

Henry is a client of Sebasticook Farms, a central Maine agency that provides training, service and employment for mentally handicapped adults.

Henry enjoys his simple job and simple life without complicated expectations.

Originally hired last August under the Sebasticook Farms Step Up Program, Henry impressed transfer station manager Don Chute so much that he became a full-fledged town employee this January. “I was so happy with his work,” said Chute.

Henry is equally happy with his job. “When I worked at [another company] I only made $65 a week. I really couldn’t do anything.

“This job pays a lot better. I’ve been able to buy a good leather jacket and a good bicycle,” said Henry.

“This is important work, you know,” he continued. “I help save the environment. This is a good job.”

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a little time for fun at work, said Henry. “These guys tease me a lot,” he said, referring to his co-workers who don’t cut him any slack because of his disability.

“And he gives it right back too,” one of the other men on the job said with a laugh.

“That’s right,” said Henry with a little smile and a twinkle in his eye, “I get back at them. I have my ways.”

When he’s not on the job, Henry lives with a longtime girlfriend, Josie, in downtown Pittsfield. They share housekeeping and cooking duties. “I cook on Monday and Wednesday and Josie cooks on Tuesday and Thursday,” he said. “I like to cook out on the grill in the summertime, but I have a tendency to forget to turn it down and I burn it.”

And so on weekends, the couple often goes out to eat at local restaurants. “When you work hard all week for your money, you deserve a night out,” he said.

When asked if he is a couch potato, Eric grinned. “Now you’ve said the magic words.” He said he loves John Wayne movies, “Walker, Texas Ranger” and Winston Cup racing.

“I do not like the talking movies,” he said. “I like the action movies.”

But mostly, he said, he likes the trips that are arranged for handicapped adults in the area. “I’ve been to Florida twice and we just went to Massachusetts,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of traveling.”

Pulling on his work gloves as he headed back to his job this week, Henry looked down at his feet and then back up quickly. He adjusted his glasses and said simply “You know, I have a pretty good life.”