Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to empty the communal bins servicing neighbouring properties as scheduled. The Council’s repeated failure to make scheduled collections from the communal bins amounts to fault. As does the Council’s failure to address Mrs X’s complaints and resolve the problem. These faults have caused Mrs X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to empty the communal bins servicing neighbouring properties as scheduled. Mrs X’s kitchen faces onto the communal bin storage area and she passes the communal bins to access the parking area. She states the failure to empty these bins regularly leads to an accumulation of waste that smells and attracts rodents.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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

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

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

5. 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.
6. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
7. 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.

What happened here

8. Mrs X has not complained about the collection of her own household waste or recycling. She has her own wheelie bins and they are collected regularly. Mrs X complains about the Council’s failure to empty the communal bins for the neighbouring flats each week. Mrs X states there should be regular weekly collections, but the communal bins are often not emptied for three or four weeks.
9. Without regular collections, Mrs X states waste accumulates around the communal containers. The collection crews will only empty the containers and will not collect the excess waste that has accumulated. This perpetuates the problem and means the area look untidy, attracts rodents and causes unpleasant smells. Mrs X is concerned about this as her kitchen window faces onto the onto the communal bin storage area. She also has to pass the communal bins to access her car in the parking area at the rear of her property.
10. Mrs X states that as she does not live in the flats, she is unable to report the missed collections online, and does not have time to regularly report the missed collections by phone. Mrs X states she has gone out and spoken to the collection crews about the missed collections and been given several different excuses.
11. The Council’s records show it has received 20 reports of missed collections between September 2018 and September 2019. The reports are all closed which indicates the missed collections have since been made. However, the dates these reports were closed do not suggest the collections were all made in a timely manner or on the next scheduled collection.
12. Mrs X’s complaints to the Council suggest that other collections were also missed. Mrs X complained on 17 May 2019 that the bins had not been collected for three weeks, and that they were generally only collected every three or four weeks. Mrs X provided photographs of the communal bin store showing the additional accumulated waste. She complained that as the excess waste was not collected, when the bins were emptied this excess immediately filled them and the cycle continued.
13. The Council’s response explained it had faced particularly challenging circumstances since January 2019 which had resulted in missed collections. The Council had managed to stabilise the service but there were a number of ongoing operational difficulties it had to resolve. The Council suggested Mrs X continue to leave her bins out on the regular collection day.
14. As Mrs X did not consider the Council’s response addressed her complaint, she asked for it to be considered further. The Council reviewed her complaint and explained that the communal containers were for the use of residents of the flats only, but other residents were also using them. If this problem persisted the Council would consider removing the communal bins.
15. Mrs X still did not consider the Council had answered her concerns, specifically about how often the Council emptied the bins. She told the Council the bins had not been emptied since 3 June 2019 and asked how often they should be emptied. The Council reiterated that inappropriate use was causing the excess and confirmed the bins were scheduled to be emptied once a week.
16. The problem with missed collections has continued and Mrs X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her concerns. In response to my enquiries the Council states there are several issues around these communal bins. It states that if the collection is not made by the regular crew it can be missed by a relief crew because of the unusual road layout. Vehicle breakdowns have also been an issue because of their age. This is being addressed by the Council’s replacement programme so all areas will have new collection vehicles within the next few months. In addition, the Council states that other residents in the area have been dumping their own excess waste in and around the bins, which are not for their use. The landlord of the flats has previously removed the communal bins because of this issue, before reinstating them.
17. The Council stated it would monitor the communal household container collections. This monitoring was initially arranged for a month, but has been extended for a further four weeks, due to further missed collections in the initial period.

Analysis

18. There have been repeated failings in the Council’s waste collection service which amount to fault. The Council accepts that collections have been missed, and that there will have been delays in these missed collections being made.
19. The Council’s records show a significant number of collections were missed and I consider it likely there even more missed collections. The records do not include the missed collections that Mrs X refers to in her complaints and the dates the reports were closed do not suggest the missed collections were all made promptly or on the next scheduled date.
20. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mrs X’s complaints. The complaints clearly refer to her concerns about missed collections, but the Council’s responses do not address this. The Council has instead focussed on the accumulation of waste being due to the unauthorised use of the communal bins by people who do not live in the flats. The Council’s response to my enquiries suggests it was aware, or should have been aware, of problems in making regular collections from these bins. But is did not refer to these in response to Mrs X’s complaints or state how it intended to address them.
21. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this had caused Mrs X a significant injustice. I recognise Mrs X’s own bins have been collected regularly so she has not had to arrange to dispose of or store uncollected household waste or recycling. But the position of her property in relation to the neighbouring bin store she means she has experienced the problems associated with her neighbours’ uncollected waste. That is unpleasant smells, excess waste on the ground and rodents.
22. Mrs X has experienced frustration and disappointment that despite her complaints the missed collections and associated problems continued. She has also been put to time and trouble in pursuing this matter.

Agreed action

23. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £100 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to collect the communal waste has caused.
24. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

25. The Council’s repeated failure to make scheduled collections from the communal bins servicing neighbouring properties amounts to fault. As does the Council’s failure to address Mrs X’s complaints and resolve the problem. These faults have caused Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman