RESIDENTS who fail to fill their brown bins with the correct items are set to red-carded and fined.

Welwyn Hatfield Council has begun issuing warnings on the recycling wheelie bins to homeowners abusing the system.

A warning yellow card in the form of a yellow-coloured hanger will be left on any bin which contains sacks, juice cartons, soil, stones, or pet waste to name a few.

The hanger tells the resident their bin cannot be composted and they should empty the bin or call Serco to take the waste to landfill at a cost of �15.

But if the bin remains in place for a second collection a red card will be issued – stating if items remains in place a fixed penalty notice of �100 will be issued.

A Welwyn Hatfield Council spokeswoman said: “If Serco were to collect the incorrectly filled bins, the wrong items would contaminate the resultant compost.

“If the material was seriously contaminated and could not be processed correctly, it would negate the whole purpose of collecting it in the first place and other residents’ hard work.”