Some residents in Noosa Shire are being greeted by unhappy faces after being found to be recycling incorrectly during an audit of waste bins.

Key points: Council officers will be having a look inside bins during an eight-week trial, leaving happy faces if residents recycle correctly

Council officers will be having a look inside bins during an eight-week trial, leaving happy faces if residents recycle correctly If items are not sorted properly, staff will leave a sad face and information on how to better separate waste

If items are not sorted properly, staff will leave a sad face and information on how to better separate waste The council says the process has been generally well received by the community

The council, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, introduced the trial to improve the sorting of rubbish, recycling and garden waste into the correct bins.

Councillor Joe Jurisevic said the audit might be a first for Queensland but was "common in other states".

"One of the ways of trying to improve recycling rates and avoidance of waste to landfill, is to go through and see what people are putting in their bins and trying to enhance the education about which bins certain waste should go in," he said.

The eight-week audit by council's waste and sustainability education officers involves them opening up the bins and having a look inside.

If there are items sorted incorrectly, such as plastic bags in recycling bins, a note will be left providing information on how to better separate waste.

The note displays a sad-face emoji addressed "to the resident".

Noosa Shire Council is trialling a bin audit system to educate residents on their recycling efforts. ( ABC Sunshine Coast: Tara Cassidy )

In some cases, bins won't be emptied and the council officers will provide an explanation that the bin was "contaminated with incorrect items".

"Some of the things that are ending up in the recycle bins that aren't recyclable in the yellow bin system are soft plastics and styrofoam," Cr Jurisevic said.

"Lids on jars ... take your metal lids off your glass jars."

Bins that are too heavy or too far from the kerb may also not be collected.

Another note option features a sad face with a simple "Uh oh" warning that the council "can help you do a bit more".

The accompanying note explains the bin had been inspected and contained incorrect items, which can be listed by the council officer.

Residents doing a good job will get a happy face and a message saying: "Thank you for doing your bit."

Joe Jurisevic says the council will follow up with residents who are not recycling correctly. ( ABC Sunshine Coast: Tara Cassidy )

Cr Jurisevic said the council would follow up with those who were doing it wrong to work with them and enhance their recycling skills.

"We know from the War On Waste that one of the worst things we have is contamination of recycling, and having clean products only enhances the opportunities for them to be reused and recycled more efficiently," he said.

"Contaminated waste isn't accepted by China; our contamination of recycling in Australia was far too high."

China stopped accepting 24 categories of solid waste in January, disrupting the export of more than 600,000 tonnes of material out of Australia each year.

Indonesian officials, meanwhile, said in July that they would send back Australian paper waste contaminated by dirty nappies and electronics.

Mark Borgert is one of the officers conducting the bin audit. ( ABC Sunshine Coast: Tara Cassidy )

Noosa council's Emma Menzies said a previous audit showed Noosa had a "6.3 per cent rate of recycling bin contamination with either general rubbish or plastic bags".

"We'll be putting new stickers on bins in the audit area to explain what can go in each bin, and we'll be dropping copies of our recycling guide into letterboxes," she said.

"Bin-tagging trials in South Australia have achieved significant results, including a 66 per cent reduction in contaminated recycle bins and increased recycling rates up to 43 per cent after six recycling collections."

Cr Jurisevic said the audit process was generally well received by the community, and was being done in various locations across the shire to get an "overall picture of the situation".

But some people have been confused by what is required, with one woman receiving a sad face from the council for placing newspaper in her green bin, after she wrapped her vegie scraps in paper instead of plastic.

Cr Jurisevic said while the council would have to investigate wrapping up food scraps, recycling needed to be everyone's responsibility.

"It's up to everyone to make the journey and make the planet a better planet to live on, and make sure we all undertake our responsibility with regard to how we deal with the waste we generate," he said.

After the audit is complete, staff will report the results with recommendations to a future council meeting.