An investigation into the contents of Ballarat rubbish bins has shown householders are not recycling, not composting and not taking notice of educational and environmental messages.

Highlands Regional Waste Management Group, which looks after waste across councils including Ballarat, Hepburn, Golden Plains, Central Goldfields, Pyrenees and Moorabool, conducted the bin audit in recent months before releasing the results yesterday.

Across, the region the results were similar to Ballarat, with slightly more than one quarter of waste being taken to district landfills actually fitting into the disposable category.

For Ballarat, only 23.8 per cent of the more than two tonnes of waste surveyed cannot be recycled and should be going to landfill.

The audit found Ballarat rubbish bins held almost 15 per cent paper, cardboard and other recyclables, garden waste made up 24.2 per cent and food organics 26.5 per cent.

Group executive officer Philip Clingin said the audit found the region's residents could recycle up almost 18 per cent more rubbish, saying he believed the results came to down to community education.

The results show councils which strongly promote recycling and reusing of garden waste, including Hepburn and Moorabool, recorded much better results when it came to rubbish in the bin.

In Hepburn, only 6.5 per cent of the bin waste was found to be garden and other other organic material.

State Government targets for the diversion of recyclable or reusable waste show Ballarat needs to be diverting 65 per cent by 2014.

Currently the city diverts less than half that target, with the audit showing only a 30 per cent diversion rate.

Group chairman Stephen Jones said the audit showed Hepburn and Moorabool were streets ahead of the other councils.

And he said Golden Plains and Central Goldfields, which were the worst recyclers.

The results have furthered arguments for the introduction of a green waste service in Ballarat.