RESIDENTS are being urged to stop putting rubbish bags inside newly-distributed brown bins.

Hertsmere Borough Council wants to remind homeowners that items need to be placed loose inside in the brown bin, not in black bin bags.

The new wheelie bins, which arrived at homes across Potters Bar earlier this month as part of a new scheme which will see half of Hertsmere’s waste recycled by 2012, are designed for almost any type of waste.

This includes glass bottles, tetra packs, plastic pots, microwave meal trays, as well as plastic bottles, tin cans and aerosol sprays, which used to be put out for collection in black boxes.

However binmen have discovered the bins have been filled with black bin bags containing rubbish, which is an unnecessary and unusable extra.

A Hertsmere Borough Council spokeswoman said: “As the crews have actually started picking up the bins, we’ve found some people are putting filled carrier bags in the brown bins – in essence this is fine if the contents is glass, cartons, plastics or cans, but the issue is that crews can’t see whether the bin is contaminated.

“If there’s a lot of contamination, the load could be rejected.”

She added: “Also, although we can accept plastic carrier bags, we cannot take black bin liners.”

Email street.scene@hertsmere.gov.uk or call 020 8207 7480 with questions.