We launched a fun new campaign to encourage West Australians to put recyclable items into their recycling bins loose. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) found that, while most people support the idea of sorting and recycling their household waste, many don’t understand that items boxed or wrapped in bin liners cannot be recycled.
The campaign was created to model good behaviours and reduce the amount of waste going into landfill. While WA is doing a great job of rinsing jars and sorting recycling, some people’s efforts are being thwarted at the very last step, when it goes incorrectly into the recycling bin.
Carolyn Mooney, Head of Strategy at Likeable Creative, stressed the need to keep the messaging clear and positive. “We needed to avoid explaining what happens to recyclable items that are wrapped or boxed. Highlighting the issues tends to reduce participation. Instead, we focused on normalising good waste sorting behaviour by showing what most people on your street are doing right when it comes to their recycling bin - tipping it in loose."
Our intention was to make the moment of tipping it in loose a fun thing to do. Our campaign celebrates that satisfying moment when tins, bottles and cartons clang as they’re tipped loose into the wheelie bin. In the TV commercial and radio ads, the distinctive sounds of objects tipping into the bin build the familiar melody of “Peer Gynt” by Edvard Grieg. The tune builds as we show the whole neighbourhood contributing to the joyous sounds of recycling.
Tim Count from MDS created the music track by recording actual items dropping into a bin and pitch-shifting the sounds to create the musical notes.
The campaign was also supported with social media ads and posters.
LikeableCreative’s production partners, Limitless Studios, also went to great lengthsto capture innovative shots. They mounted a specially-rigged DJI Ronan 4Dcinema camera inside a wheelie bin to capture the dynamic footage of therecyclables falling loose.
Some behind-the-scenes images
The campaign launched in May 2026.
We look forward to tracking the results over the year as we strive to reduce the waste going to landfill.
