NEWPORT council paid a private firm £9,000 to look through residents' rubbish to see if they are recycling properly.

A two-week study was carried out by an unnamed firm on household waste and waste delivered to the city's civic amenity site.

Opposition councillors blasted the council for using 'Big Brother' tactics to 'spy' on residents, but the council said it was an important study to help their waste policy.

It was carried out by a specialist research and consultancy company, which Newport council refused to name for commercial reasons.

The firm carried out the 'compositional analysis' on 200 domestic bin-loads of rubbish from five areas of Newport earlier this year, paid for with a £9,000 Assembly grant.

Conservative councillor David Fouweather said doing this without telling residents amounted to spying and said Newport people would be "appalled".

But Councillor Ray Truman, cabinet member for community safety and sustainability, rejected the suggestion it was a Big Brother-type activity, and said the study was carried out to determine what Newport residents are throwing away.

He said: "It is important that the council understands what rubbish is left in the bins and this will help guide future policy."

The analysis showed people are still throwing away many recyclables, and if the paper, glass, cans and textiles currently being binned are recycled instead, Newport would meet the EU's 2010 target for reducing landfill.

Too much food is being thrown away, which the company linked to the number of Buy One Get One Free offers run by supermarkets.

After the study the council considered proposals to introduce compulsory recycling and issuing fixed penalty notices for misuse, but this was dropped after opposition.

The council said it wants to continue to encourage recycling and promote composting.

Around 30,000 city households have fortnightly rubbish collections with orange-topped bins for garden waste and green and blue recycling boxes collected by Wastesavers.