Staff at the Gilgandra Recycling Facility are part of the campaign that shares their stories in a bid to help the community become better recyclers. 

One council employee featured, Stuart, tells the community he loves his job at the Gilgandra Waste Facility, but he hates it when garbage is mixed in with the recyclables.

“It’s not a robot that does this job, it’s actually people. When all the rubbish is mixed in, the lot ends up going into landfill.

“I want to remind the community to put recycling in the recycling bins and garbage into garbage bins,” he said.

The Mid-Western Region Waste Facility is also featured in the campaign. 

“I don’t think the community understands that what they put in their recycling bin is hand sorted by people. If you put rotten food, dirty nappies or hazardous waste in your recycling bin, we have to sort through that,” Mid-Western Region Waste Facility Manager Tiffany said. 

NetWaste Environmental Learning Officer Sue Clarke says she’s thrilled to be able to launch the new campaign and hopes it will raise awareness of the issue of contamination in recyclables via a different perspective.

“I think we often put things in our recycling bin and don’t give it another thought.

“This campaign is all about helping those who have the job of sorting recycling. ‘Help Us Help You’ means everyone can do better when it comes to recycling,” she said.

Barry Craig from the Cowra facility, who is also featured, says he’s seen almost everything turn up in recycling waste, including animals.

“We are human, and we’ve got to touch your recycling. Take a little bit more care as to what goes in your recycling because we want to do our job and get all the recyclables out of the recycling.”

To find out more about the staff featured in the ads and tips on what can and can’t be recycled, go to http://www.helpushelpyou.org.au