NOT ON: Heather Biswell upset by the offensive note on her wheelie bin.

A Wellington family dodged a $400 fine for mistakenly putting glass into their general recycling wheelie bin, but instead had a collector slap an official sticker on the lid with the message "No bottles dick".

EnviroWaste, which is contracted by Wellington City Council, has launched an investigation to find who penned the offensive remark in thick marker pen on the sticker and also to determine if disciplinary action is warranted.

Heather Biswell said one of her three teenagers put the wheelie bin out for collection as usual on Thursday night. The following day she found the sticker sitting on her dining room table.

It had been removed from the lid of the family's recycling wheelie bin.

The bins were introduced across the city by the council in May for all household recycling except glass, and required Wellington householders to place their glass into a separate container for the first time.

Not only does the message say "no bottles dick" but also "Wont be emptied nex time".

Ms Biswell said the inappropriate message was targeting her children who put the bin out.

"They will see that and see that it's directly and specifically aimed at them."

The Biswell household – which includes four international students who are staying with the family – admit there was glass in the bin but think the sticker message they received was over the top.

"Obviously they [EnviroWaste] are having issues for somebody to get that outraged about the whole thing ... but this is not the way to sort the problem."

An emailed complaint was sent to EnviroWaste on Friday.

Brian Russell turned up at their house on Saturday morning with apologies and promises to launch an investigation which could lead to disciplinary action.

"We were impressed with his actions," Ms Biswell said.

Mr Russell confirmed to The Dominion Post that an investigation would start today.

"It is unacceptable and is behaviour we won't tolerate."

The offending message was on an official EnviroWaste sticker and at first look appeared genuine but it had still to be "100 per cent established" that it was written by one of the company's recycling collectors, he said.

Council spokesman Richard MacLean backed Mr Russell's comments.

"If it is one of the contractors [who wrote the note] then we will be highly peeved off.

"It is little things like this that put us back quite a way in terms of getting people to like the new recycling system."

This was the first complaint about offensive sticker messages received by the council, he said.

The council can fine the householder up to $400 for placing glass in their wheelie bins. By the end of August, seven litterbugs had been fined.