Unfortunately, Harry, Lucy, Hannah, Joey and Timmy Hastings were too busy learning how to reduce, reuse and recycle to accompany me. But I was more than thrilled to accept the award on behalf of council and the community.

Our Hastings family is really leading the way in helping our community learn how to manage our waste, especially with the success of the Which bin? initiative.

In the animated series of advertisements the somewhat clueless dad is being instructed by his children as to what waste goes in which bin. One of the ads shows them competing on a tv quiz show.

Not only is the recognition of our Hastings family a win for us at council, but for the whole community. It is a testament to the fabulous work we are all doing to maintain our beautiful region.

It's also wonderful to see that our community is following in the footsteps of the Hastings family.

More and more groups are getting involved by doing their bit for our environment. And it's as easy as putting your food scraps and garden trimmings in the green bin so they can be turned into compost and used on our local farms, garden and parks. How great is that?

But it doesn't stop there. The more we choose the right bin for our waste, the more money we are saving.

And the more waste we are preventing going to landfill.

Not only is this great for us, but it is also great by helping protect and preserve our beautiful natural resources.

I want to thank the community for their effort and involvement in getting behind this initiative.

I really encourage everyone to keep up the great work because it really is doing wonders for our community.

To see more about the Hastings family Which bin? initiative, or for more information visit pmhc.nsw.gov.au/Waste.