Eurobodalla Council is urging residents not to cut corners with their green waste, reporting a weekly average of three contaminated truckloads and large amounts of illegally dumped green waste in bushland.
Council's waste service manager Nathan Ladmore said residents should not be using tip fees to excuse poor behaviour.
"The tip fees simply recover handling and processing costs that ensure waste is handled without damaging the environment," Mr Ladmore said.
"If you are feeling overwhelmed by your rubbish, we are a phone call away – our team would rather help you find solutions than see rubbish dumped in the bush or stashed in the wrong bin."
Back at waste management facilities, rubbish is hand-picked from green waste piles before it's mulched. Mr Ladmore said that was time consuming for staff and money wasted.
"If the mulch tests too high for contaminants, it can be unusable and end up in landfill, which is bad for the environment," he said.
Green-waste mulching takes eight weeks before it becomes available to the community for free at all three waste management facilities.
"There's currently plenty of mulch ready to collect at Brou, Surf Beach and Moruya – staff will load it for you," Mr Ladmore said.
During kerbside collection truck cameras help operators scan green-waste bins for rubbish before they're emptied – food packaging is the biggest offender. Mr Ladmore said contaminated bins were marked with a warning sticker and not usually emptied.
"You will most likely receive a letter from Council as well as a warning sticker on your bin," Mr Ladmore said.
"If you get three warning stickers you will be contacted by Council. Our waste team will pay a visit to help get your waste streams back on track.
"If there is contamination in the bins after this process, then Council can remove the bins, and no one wants that."
Mr Ladmore said Council would undertake an audit of resident bins' contents.
"We want to better understand the various contamination rates and collect data so we can do more community education around this issue," he said.
To learn more about recycling and waste, check out the A-Z guide and helpful facts on the waste and recycling web page
