A council has seized more than 1,300 bins from residents as punishment for falling foul of recycling rules after employing specialist "snoopers" to inspect people's rubbish.

Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire last month hired 12 full-time "advisers" to sift through recycling bins before council collections to ensure waste is segregated correctly.

Anyone found contaminating recyclable items with rubbish such as food leftovers, nappies and garden waste has their bin tagged with a yellow warning sticker.

Repeat offenders caught breaking the rules again have their green-coloured recycling bins confiscated under a "two strikes and you are out" policy.

The council confirmed 1,341 bins belonging to residents in Huddersfield have been seized since the policy was introduced on April 1 and are now impounded in a council-run depot.

Residents face a six-month wait before they can have their bins returned. It is not clear if people face a charge for having the bins impounded.

Council chiefs said the clampdown was launched to prevent recyclable waste from being destroyed after it became "contaminated" with non-renewable waste.