The mayor and every Maitland councillor gets one, as does the Mercury and Newcastle Herald, as well as a handful of other targeted recipients.

Invariably they're about opportunities in recycling, urging council to get on board and take advantage of opportunities that currently exist.

"I guess I'm agitating for change," Mr Jacobs said. "It's a real interest of mine."

The Mercury contacted Mr Jacobs to learn his story. What's happened to John Brown and Jan Davis, who have been the Greens' voice in Maitland for years?

The 53-year old from Ashtonfield is a project manager who spent time working in the Middle East which is where he became interested in recycling.

"They were buying a lot of scrap aluminium from Australia - used cans mostly - and were using them in recycling," he said.

"I started wondering why Australia would pay to have them shipped offshore when they can be used to recycle and potentially save money."

The Maitland Greens member doesn't want to be a pest for council - in fact he believes council "does a pretty good job" - and accepts that change can't happen overnight.

Because recycling is his 'thing', the Greens are happy for him to take the lead.

"I know I'm impatient, but there needs to be a change of thinking to open up to the possibilities out there," he said. "Now is a good time, because there are government grants being offered to help start up industries like the ones I'm suggesting.

"Yes, it would cost money to start with, but the grants would help, plus we'd save the cost of shipping offshore, there would be jobs in it, it would be good for the planet and we'd make money from the new industry.

"There's are so many positives.

"And we have places like the Kurri Economic Zone that has open space and is near the freeway ... it would be ideal for this sort of thing."

With each email Mr Jacobs will send a link to a grant that's available, or to an article that shows how well the scheme is working overseas.

In his own words he wants to "offer a solution, or at the very least present an opportunity" rather than just banging on with the same old line.

"In India, for example, they're using plastic to help produce road base. I think they're up to 30,000 kilometres of asphalt now that is working just fine.

"They've started doing it in the UK, and there have been a number of trials with it around Gosford, they've used it in Cronulla, in Melbourne. There are councils out there trialling it now.

"Imagine all the footpaths around town, netball courts and so on we could use it for.

"Right now only 12 per cent of plastic is processed for recycling.

"There are equally successful examples of recycling glass ... breaking it down into little pieces and using it to help produce sand which can be used as bedding for new pipeworks.

"I think we have to take the time to look at these things and consider them, rather than just go on doing things the way we do because it's the way we've always done it.

"It would be easy for council, for example, to ensure all paper used is recycled paper. Right now we're sending 300,000 tonnes a used paper oversea a year. Why?

"And it's so important to get councils on board. If we're going to get businesses to change, we need to make it worth their while to do so, which means we need to be using the new recycled product in sufficient volume. Councils can help with that."

In that regard he has written to The Hunter Joint Organisation, a collaborative body of ten councils ranging from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie to the Upper Hunter, with his thoughts.

"I'm hoping to attend a meeting and present my case."

In the meantime the emails keep coming.

He may be impatient, but he is certainly committed.