Summary: Ms X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste or recycling on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when collections are missed. Ms X also complains the Council has failed to adequately respond to her complaints and has twice closed her complaint without resolving the problem. The Council’s repeated failure to collect the communal waste from the bin stores serving Ms X’s the apartment block amounts to fault. This fault has caused Ms X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste or recycling on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when collections are missed. Ms X states the Council collects waste from other bin stores serving the apartment block but has not collected any waste from her bin store since the start of the year.
2. Ms X also complains the Council has failed to adequately respond to her complaints and has twice closed her complaint without resolving the problem. Despite assurances the problem will be resolved, the Council still does not collect Ms X’s household waste and recycling. As a result, the management company for the property has had to arrange for the waste to be disposed of and has charged Ms X and other residents for this service.

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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)

How I considered this complaint

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Ms X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Ms X;
• sent a statement setting out my draft decision to Ms 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. The crews began working to rule on 29 December 2018 and the first full day of industrial action was 19 February 2019.
10. The Council moved to a fortnightly collection for all waste types in February 2019. When the industrial action ended in mid-March 2019, the Council returned to weekly household and fortnightly recycling collections.

What happened here

11. Ms X complains the Council has failed to collect her household waste or recycling since the start of 2019. Ms X states the collection crews visit every week and empty the other communal bins at the site, but always miss the bin store outside her property. She states the accumulation of uncollected waste is untidy, smells disgusting and attracts foxes and rats.
12. Ms X states she reported missed collections to the Council on a weekly basis throughout March 2019. Ms X also spoke to a supervisor at the refuse depot who assured her they would collect the waste but did not. In addition, she waited in to speak to the collection crew, but they still did not collect her waste. Ms X estimates she has spent more than 12 hours telephoning and writing to the Council to try and resolve this matter. This has impacted on her work and family life. It has also had financial implications as Ms X and the other residents have had to pay the management company for the building to remove the waste.
13. The Council’s records show Miss X has reported three missed collections in 2019, one in March, one in April and one in June 2019. There was an error in recording the report in March, but the reports in April and May are closed which indicates the missed collections have since been made.
14. The Council has however also provided copies of Ms X’s emails and complaints to the Council which detail many more missed collections. Ms X complained on 29 March 2019 that the Council had missed two collections and she was having to pay the management company to remove the waste. On 10 April Ms X reported two further missed collections on 3 and 10 April and complained there had been no collections since 2018. She also provided a photograph of the bin store and complained they were overrun with rats.
15. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint on 1 May 2019. It confirmed the industrial action had now ended and normal service had resumed. But there would be further delays to collections over the next two cycles as the Council dealt with the accumulation. The Council also confirmed it had spoken to all operatives about their conduct and responsibilities and was monitoring progress. It apologised for the distress and inconvenience caused by the disruption in service.
16. On the same day, Ms X reported another missed collection and complained they had not had any collections in April 2019. Ms X stated residents were having to fund a further private collection.
17. Ms X was unhappy with the Council’s response and asked for her complaint to be considered further. She also reported further missed collections on 8, 15, 22 and 29 May 2019. The Council apologised that the problem had not been resolved. It stated it was in the process of establishing a scheduled round to cover collections from Ms X’s property.
18. Ms X was not satisfied by the Council’s response and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate. She states there have been further missed collections and the management company has now made private arrangements for the disposal of the waste. The residents are charged a fee for this service.
19. In response to my enquiries the Council states it has asked the depot to monitor collections from Ms X’s property for a month. This period can be extended if collections are missed during this period.
20. The Council also states there is now an established round that empties the communal containers which has helped to stabilise collections. Prior to this, collections were more sporadic.
21. Ms X has confirmed the bins are now being collected regularly.

Analysis

22. It is clear from the information available that there have been repeated failings in the Council’s service which amount to fault. Ms X has not received regular household waste or recycling collections for most of 2019.
23. Although the Council’s report shows Ms X has only reported three missed collections, it is clear from the documentation that many more were missed collections. As Ms X lives in a flat she is unable to report missed collections on-line. She has to telephone the Council to report the missed collections, which she states is time consuming. Ms X states she stopped reporting missed collections as it did not achieve anything, and collections were still missed. Ms X complained her waste had not been collected at all in 2019.
24. It is disappointing that the Council closed Ms X’s reports of missed collections when the collections had still not been made. Despite the Council’s reassurances this problem was not resolved in a timely manner, and Ms X did not receive regular collections until October 2019.
25. I recognise the Council has now established a new round to empty communal containers and that this has improved the service. But consider this could have been implemented earlier if the Council had properly considered Ms X’s complaints and identified the issues.
26. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Ms X an injustice. Ms X has had to endure the smell and mess of the uncollected waste, and the problem of rodents this has attracted. She has had to pay her management company to remove the uncollected household waste and recycling left in the communal store. Ms X has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s poor responses. Ms X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

27. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and pay her £300 in recognition of the frustration, difficulties and financial expense the failure to make regular waste collections has caused.
28. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

29. The Council’s repeated failure to collect the communal waste from the bin stores serving Ms X’s the apartment block amounts to fault. This fault has caused Ms X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman