Waste Management Officer Mark Sewell has again gone above and beyond to help a member of the public. Mark's fantastic work ethic and great generosity saw him rescue an expensive dental plate from a street bin destined for landfill earlier this year, but he has struck again this time helping locate a family heirloom that had been accidently thrown in the rubbish.
Last week Mel White lost her diamond ring, a family heirloom passed down from her grandmother and mother, and which she intended to pass on to her own daughter one day.
Mel's daughter Chloe posted a few days ago on Facebook that the ring was lost, possibly in the street in the Manjimup CBD, however the notice brought them no success (although masses of public sympathy).
They then thought they may have put it in their household rubbish, wrapped in a piece of tissue paper. Because Mel lives out of town they had put their waste into the bulk drop-off bin at the Manjimup Recycling and Refuse Centre last Sunday afternoon.
They rang the site contractors, Grant Dalgleish and Steph Fontanini of Verge Earthmoving, on Thursday to ask if they could go through the waste in the bulk bin which is usually over four tonnes. Steph told them this would not be possible, but that she would try to sort something out.
Steph then rang our trusty Waste Officer, Mark Sewell and it was decided that they could spend an hour sifting through the waste once the bulk bin had been tipped at the active landfill the next day, as long as they could adhere to some basic safety measures.
Steph requested the hook lift truck driver to come early, before all the kerbside bin collection waste came in and Grant asked him to tip the bulk bin load to one side at the active landfill face.
"Ms White and family went to work. I went out to join them. I thought we have to be methodical and we should find it, despite there being about 4 tonnes of putrescible waste." Mark said.
"After we had been searching for about 45 minutes without success, Grant came back to the active landfill and used the excavator to very carefully pull the top layer off the pile. Going back to hand-searching the pulled apart pile, they eventually recognised their own bin liner bag and emptied it out onto a small tarp they had brought along" he added.
"Even though the family bought a very level headed and thoughtful approach to the task, there were some very loud screams of joy and relief and some tears, it was quite an emotional moment" Mark said.
Shire President Paul Omodei added "This was a team effort, which resulted in a fantastic outcome, well done to everyone involved, Mark is an outstanding and valued member of the community and we are very fortunate to have him on staff".
