Workers collect empty bottles from Orange venues including the Orange Ex-Services’ Club, The Agrestic Grocer and CSU Orange and recycle them for 10 cents each through the Central West’s sole bulk automated depot in Bathurst.

Now they are set to add the Orange hospital and the Ophir Hotel to their list.

Wangarang Industries Business Development Manager Paul Rapley said they would be collecting 600 water bottles a day from the hospital to boost their funds.

Mr Rapley said they were seeking to buy a $30,000 air-conditioning unit for their factory and had raised one-third of the funds.

He said apart from the recycling project a charity golf day at Duntryleague on February 1 also set to boost the coffers.

Mr Rapley said the recycling work was important for the centre and staff.

“It is really good work for the guys, it is repetitive, they enjoy it,” he said.

“Not only is it creating revenue it is creating jobs.”

Mr Rapley said they wanted to add more venues to their list to collect empties for recycling.

He said he had approached many pubs in town and also offered to collect bottles in Lucknow, Spring Hill and Molong.

Mr Rapley said once the bottles were collected they needed to be cleaned at Wangarang before a truck from the Bathurst Recycling and Return and Earn business collected them weekly.

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Co-owner Christine Clark said the automated unit could process 100 items a minute which was far quicker than people could individually enter cans and bottles into the Return and Earn units.

“We employ five people down there,” she said.

The business donated $528 to Wangarang on Monday as part of  a regular donation scheme which is on top of the money Wangarang raised through recycling.