Summary: Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste and recycling on the scheduled days since the beginning of 2019. He also complains about fly tipping on the neighbouring streets. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s household waste and recycling over an extended period amounts to fault. This fault has caused 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 and recycling on the scheduled days since the beginning of 2019.
2. Mr X also complains about fly tipping on the neighbouring streets. He states business waste is left uncollected on the streets which encourages fly tipping.

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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 documents provided by Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Mr X;
• 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. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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 I found

11. Mr X complains that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect household waste and recycling from his street since the start of the year. He states he would call the Council every few days to report missed collections for the first six months of the year. Mr X was concerned the accumulation of waste attracted rodents and was a health and safety concern for the children having to pass it on their way to the schools on an adjoining road.
12. The Council’s records show Mr X has reported 14 missed household waste collections and 4 missed recycling collections since the start of the year. All except the most recent report are 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.
13. For example, Mr X reported a missed collection on 17 April 2019 and the Council closed the report on 7 May 2019. But Mr X also reported a missed collection on 7 May 2019 which the Council did not close until three weeks later, on 30 May 2019. If the Council had collected the missed waste on 7 May 2019 as it suggests, Mr X would not have needed to report a further missed collection.
14. There are further anomalies in the Council’s records. Mr X reported missed collections on 4 June, 11 June and 18 June 2019, and the Council closed the first report on 20 June and the next two on 6 August 2019. Had the Council collected the missed waste on 20 June 2019, it could have closed all three reports that day.
15. 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.
16. Further information provided by the Council confirms that the missed collections affected the whole road, not just Mr X’s property.
17. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mr X also complained to the Council. In early June 2019 Mr X complained the Council had not collected the bins on his street for three weeks. The accumulated waste had been left on the street and was a hazard as well as attracting rodents. He asked the Council to collect the household waste and recycling on a weekly basis.
18. The Council’s response apologised for the service and any inconvenience caused. It advised it had faced challenging circumstances since January 2019 which had led to missed collections. The Council had now managed to stabilise the service, but there were still some ongoing operational difficulties it was working to resolve. In some cases, the Council would not be able to clear missed waste until the next scheduled collection day.
19. Mr X was not satisfied by this response as the problem had been ongoing for months and the Council had not done anything to resolve it. He asked the Council to review his complaint. The Council reiterated it was working to resolve the operational difficulties and was aiming to have the collection service back on track as soon as possible.
20. Mr X complained to the Council again in July 2019. He reported that he had seen the collection crew deliberately miss certain roads and was concerned they did not collect the rubbish until told to do so. The Council confirmed it would investigate the matter and speak to the crew.
21. As the service did not improve, Mr X asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. He states there have been regular collections since late August 2019, but business waste is still being left at the top of his street. This was encouraging others to leave waste there and it was not being collected. Mr X also complained the street cleaners used to visit his street, but have stopped, and this was adding to the untidy appearance of his street.
22. In response to my enquiries the Council states waste and recycling collections across the city were disrupted between January and March of this year, due to industrial action. When the industrial action ended, there was an issue with vehicle availability. The Council has exchanged older hire vehicles for newer ones, which it states has made a significant improvement in the level of service since July 2019. The Council has also engaged a new round to help meet the demands of the service from the recycling element and has recruited new staff. It states this has improved and stabilised the service and there has been a reduced level of missed collections since July 2019.
23. The Council states there appears to be an issue in the area with high levels of side business and domestic waste left in sacks on the street, which collection crews are not obliged to take. The Waste Prevention Team will visit Mr X’s and the adjoining streets to assess what action is required from them in terms of engagement with businesses/residents.
24. In terms of street cleaning, the Council states this is scheduled to take place on Mr X’s street once a week, but it cannot always be achieved. There may be conflicting priorities and street cleansing resources may need to be diverted elsewhere on a given day. Similarly, if Mr X’s road does not need cleansing when the crew arrive, they will attend to a neighbouring road instead.
25. The Council arranged monitoring of Mr X’s household and recycling collections, as well as street cleansing for a month. It has provided photographs taken during this period which show the Mr X’s road is clean.
26. Mr X states the Council failed to collect two of the household waste collections from his street on the scheduled day during this monitoring period.

Analysis

27. It is clear from the documentation I have received that there have been repeated failings in the Council’s service which amount to fault.
28. The Council accepts that collections have been missed, and that there will have been delays in these missed collections being made. The Council’s records of Mr X’s reported missed collections, when the collections were subsequently made, and the reports closed are inconsistent. I do not consider them to be a reliable indicator of the extent of the problem.
29. 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 waste and recycling left at his property and has had to endure the smell and mess of the uncollected waste on his road, and the problem of rodents this has attracted. He has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Mr X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.
30. I recognise the Council has taken action to improve the service and is monitoring Mr X’s collections. Given that there have been missed collections during the monitoring period I consider the Council should extend the monitoring.

Agreed action

31. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £200 in recognition of the frustration, difficulties and financial expense the failure to make regular household waste and recycling collections has caused.
32. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.
33. The Council has also agreed to extend the monitoring of Mr X’s household and recycling collections, and the street cleansing for a further month.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman