You’ll never hear Francisco Fernandez trash-talking his job.

“It’s interesting because I’m not standing in one place. I’m moving constantly,” he says, and he's not kidding.

Francisco works the catwalk at this MERF – or Materials Recovery Facility – sorting through recyclables that come fast and furiously down the conveyor belt. His job is to set aside what’s good and get rid of what’s bad – like syringes. And with hands moving this quickly, even in gloves, that can be dangerous.

Of course, you should be recycling and many of us are. About 65 percent of solid waste in California is diverted from landfills. The goal is to up that number to 75 percent by 2020.

Of course, the key isn’t just to recycle, but to do it correctly. For instance, Supervising Engineer Habib Kharrat says, “Do not put your recyclables in plastic bags because then we have to go through the extra effort of opening the plastic bag.”

Also, jars and cans should be rinsed out and pizza boxes shouldn’t have leftover slices in them.

“Those materials that they throw in with contamination are useless but what will also happen is it will contaminate other clean material and then that material is also useless,” Kharrat explains.

If you’re not sure if a particular type of packaging can be recycled, give it a go. If it doesn’t belong, Francisco and his colleagues will pull it out. In fact, given the choice, he’d rather you try to recycle than not, because as Francisco sees it, it’s a small effort to achieve a big goal.

“Save the planet,” he says. “Because it’s the planet they’re living on after all.”

And with that, he’s off because when you’re saving the planet, there’s not a lot of time to stand still.