Summary: Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste, recycling and garden waste on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when collections are missed. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s household waste, recycling and garden waste over an extended period amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste, recycling and garden waste on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when collections are missed.
2. Mr X also complains the Council has failed to adequately respond to his complaints or resolve the problem. He is concerned about information on the Council’s website advising residents to leave their bins out for two days following a missed collection and then bring them in until the next scheduled collection. Mr X states he followed this advice, so his bin was not emptied when the collection crew visited on the third day after the scheduled collection.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the information provided by Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Mr X; and
• sent a statement setting out my draft decision to Mr X and the Council and invited their comments.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

6. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
8. When a missed collection is reported to the Council, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the collection is complete, the Council closes the report.
9. At the end of December 2018 collection crews began industrial action. The Council introduced a contingency plan to make one collection for all waste types each week rather than separate collections of household waste and recycling.
10. The Council then moved to a fortnightly collection for all waste types in February 2019. When the industrial action ended in March 2019, the Council returned to weekly household and fortnightly recycling collections.
11. The Council also runs a fortnightly garden waste collection service between March and December. The Council generally charges a fee for this service, and it is only available to customers who have subscribed for the service in advance. The terms and conditions for this service state the Council will consider a refund where it has failed to rectify a reported missed collection of garden waste on three consecutive cycles.

What happened here

12. Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste, recycling and garden waste. He states the service was poor during the period of industrial action at the start of the year, but they were reassured the service would return to normal when the strike ended. However, Mr X states the service following the strike has been worse than when the strike was on. Mr X states that during a typical week when two bins should be collected only one will be collected on time. He believes that if the crews do not have time to complete the round, or vehicle is full, they return to the depot and leave some bins uncollected.
13. The Council’s records show Mr X has reported seven missed household waste collections, six missed recycling collection and five garden waste collections over the last 12 months. The reports are all closed which indicates the missed collections have since been made. However, the dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest the collections were all made in a timely manner. The records also suggest that other collections were also missed.
14. For example, Mr X reported a missed household waste collection on 5 February 2019 and the Council closed the report seven weeks later on 25 March 2019. This would suggest the intervening weekly collections were also missed. If the Council had made the collections as scheduled, it could have closed the report much sooner
15. Similarly, Mr X reported a missed garden waste collection on 2 October 2018 and the Council closed this report seven weeks later on 20 November 2018. As there should have been fortnightly collection, this suggests collections scheduled for 16 and 30 October and 13 November 2018 were also missed. Again, had the Council made these collections it could have closed the reports sooner.
16. There are also anomalies in the records of Mr X’s recycling collections. Mr X reported missed recycling collections on 9 and 15 January 2019. The Council closed these reports on 25 and 30 January 2019 respectively. If the Council made a collection on 25 January 2019, it could have closed the report of 15 January 2019 that day too.
17. The records show Mr X continued to report missed collections following the end of the industrial action. Mr X reported missed household waste collections on 26 March, 9 April and 7 May 2019. These reports were closed on 24 April, 1 May and 11 June respectively. This again suggests that other collections were also missed and the anomalies in the dates the reports were closed calls in to question the accuracy of this information.
18. There are further similar examples of inconsistencies in the reports for missed recycling and garden waste collections in May, June and July 2019.
19. The Council states there may be a delay between the missed collections being made and the report being closed, so it is not necessarily the case that the intervening collections were also missed. However, the Council has not provided evidence of the dates the missed collections were made where they are different to the date the report was closed.
20. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mr X also complained to the Council. In March 2019 Mr X complained that although the strike had ended the service was still poor and the bins had not been collected. He stated he had reported missed collection by telephone and online many times. He had been reassured the issue had been escalated and the bins would be collected, but this did not happen. Mr X asked the Council to refund his green waste subscription fee and to collect his bins as scheduled.
21. The Council’s response confirmed it had had operational issues with collections. The manager was aware of the problem and would investigate and hopefully resolve the problem. The Council apologised for any inconvenience caused.
22. Mr X complained again in early May 2019 as his waste had still not been collected and the service had not improved. The Council confirmed it had alerted the depot manager and asked them to put their best efforts into ensuring Mr X’s household waste, recycling and garden waste collections returned to schedule.
23. Mr X made further complaints in June and July 2019. He complained the service was still terrible and the Council has not offered any explanation or timeframe for when the issue would be resolved. The Council told Mr X there were still a number of operational issues to be attended to. The depot intended to achieve a prompt resolution and aimed to clear any outstanding waste as soon as possible.
24. As Mr X was not satisfied by the Council’s response, he has asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. In response to my enquiries the Council states there has been long-term citywide disruption to waste services due to changes to the working week and vehicle maintenance concerns. Significant changes to routes also impacted on the operations ability to ensure all rounds were completed on their scheduled days. A senior officer has been addressing these matters, and the work is continuing.
25. The Council states the depot can monitor reports of missed collections and analyse their dropped work spreadsheets to see if certain streets/addresses appear frequently.
26. In terms of the information provided to residents, the Council states the information presented on its website is as accurate as possible, on a business as usual basis. It states that where the service encounters delay or, if for any other reason, collections may be affected, it updates the information as the changes occur. However, it acknowledges there have been occasions when there have been slight delays in obtaining operational updates due to exceptional circumstances.
27. To resolve Mr X’s complaint the Council has arranged for the depot to monitor Mr X’s household collections for six weeks and recycling collections for 12 weeks, as they are fortnightly. The Council will also monitor Mr X’s garden waste collections until the end of the season and will refund the fee for the service this year.

Analysis

28. It is clear from the information available that there have been repeated failings in the Council’s service which amount to fault. Mr X has not received regular household, recycling or garden waste collections since late 2018.
29. The Council states Mr X has reported a total of 18 missed collections, but I consider it likely significantly more collections were missed. There are inconsistencies in the Council’s records, and I note Mr X’s complaints refer to missed collections each week and waiting months for collections to be made.
30. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections, or when the waste was actually collected.
31. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mr X’s complaints. Despite the Council’s assurances that managers were aware of the problem and regular collections would be made, the service did not improve, and the missed collections continued.
32. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mr X an injustice. Mr X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected household waste, recycling and garden waste left at his property. As there is not a pavement at the front of Mr X’s property, he has to store the uncollected bins on his lawn. He states they have to be moved regularly to prevent the lawn from dying. Mr X has also had to take his waste to the tip to prevent the accumulation getting out of hand.
33. In addition, Mr X has experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s poor complaint responses which have not resolved the problem. Mr X has also been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.
34. I recognise the Council is now monitoring Mr X’s collections and would expect this to improve the service. I also welcome the Council’s offer to refund Mr X’s payment for the garden waste service.

Agreed action

35. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £300 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular household waste recycling and green waste collections over an extended period has caused.
36. The Council has also agreed to refund Mr X’s payment for the garden waste service for the current year.
37. The Council should carry out these actions within one month of the final decision on this complaint.
38. The Council has agreed to monitor Mr X’s household waste collections for a six-week period; his recycling collections for a 12-week period and his garden waste collections until the end of the season.

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Final decision

39. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s household waste, recycling and garden waste over an extended period amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman