Summary: Mr X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect the recycling from his street on the scheduled days for over a year. The significant periods between collections led to a large build-up of waste which attracted rats. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s recycling over a sustained 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 repeatedly failed to collect the recycling from his street on the scheduled days for over a year. This led to an accumulation of waste which attracted rats.

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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 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; 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

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. 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.
8. 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.
9. When a resident reports a missed collection, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the Council has completed the collection, it closes the report.

What happened here

10. Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the recycling from his street since 2018. He states collections were sporadic, often weeks or months apart, and at its worst the Council did not collect their recycling for 21 weeks.
11. The Council’s records show Mr X has reported eleven missed recycling collections since November 2018. Other residents on his street have also reported some of the same, and additional missed collections. The reports are all closed which indicates the Council has since made the missed collections. However, the dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest the Council made the collections in a timely manner. The records also suggest the Council also missed other collections.
12. As an example, Mr X reported a missed collection on 7 June 2019 which the Council closed on 21 June 2019, the next scheduled collection date. However, another resident on Mr X’s street reported a missed collection on 21 June 2019 and the Council did not close that report until 8 July 2019. By this time, Mr X had reported a further missed collection on 5 July 2019 which the Council also closed on 8 July 2019.
13. There are further anomalies in the records for August 2019. Another resident reported a missed collection on 2 August 2019 which the Council closed following the next scheduled collection on 16 August 2019. But both Mr X and another resident reported missed collections on 16 August 2019. The Council closed these reports on 18 September 2019, which suggests the Council also missed the scheduled collections on 30 August and 13 September 2019. If the Council had made these collections if could have closed the reports on those days.
14. The Council states there may be a delay between when it goes out to collect a missed collection and when it closes the report, so it is not necessarily the case that it also missed the intervening collections. However, the Council has not provided evidence of the dates it made the missed collections where they are different to the date the report was closed.
15. Mr X made a formal complaint about the collection service in August 2018. He complained there had been problems with the recycling collections since the previous year. Mr X had spoken to the collection crew who had told him his street was not routed for collection. He asked for an officer to call him to discuss the situation. The Council confirmed it would ask an Assistant Service Manager to telephone Mr X. There is no record this officer contacted Mr X.
16. The Council wrote to Mr X and advised the depot was experiencing a number of operational difficulties which it was working to resolve. It noted the recycling was now up to date and confirmed it would monitor the collections over the next few weeks.
17. Mr X was unhappy with the generic nature of the Council’s response. The residents had not had a recycling collection for three weeks, and prior to that had waited five weeks for a collection. Mr X said he had spoken to the depot who stated they did not have enough staff or money for overtime. As there were further missed collections, Mr X asked the ombudsman to investigate his complaint.
18. In response to my enquiries the Council states the depot has been experiencing operational difficulties since late 2018. It states there must be a Waste Reduction and Collection Officer (WRCO) present on each collection round, but the depot currently has a shortage of WRCO’s. The Council states it is exploring options on how to minimise the impact of WRCO’S on a collection round. It is also trying to recruit more WRCO’s.
19. The Council states it has not made any changes to the collection route which includes Mr X’s street. It cannot comment on the suggestion that missed collections were due to the street not being routed for collection as there is no record of this conversation. The Council will monitor Mr X’s recycling collections for three months.
20. In terms of its complaint responses, the Council states it uses templates to ensure consistency of approach and content. It acknowledges its initial response to Mr X was insufficient but notes the subsequent response appropriately referred to the operational difficulties.
21. Mr X states the service has improved. He has regular recycling collections, but the crews will only empty their bin, and will not take any additional side waste.

Analysis

22. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Mr X’s recycling. These failings in the service amount to fault.
23. The Council states Mr X has reported a total of eleven missed collections. Mr X disputes this and I consider it likely the Council missed significantly more collections. There are inconsistencies in the Council’s records, and I note Mr X’s complaints refer to consecutive missed collections and waiting weeks and months for the Council to make collections.
24. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections, or when it actually collected the recycling. It is concerning that the Council appears to have closed the reports of missed collections when it had not collected the waste.
25. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has responded to Mr X’s complaints. The Council acknowledges its initial response was inadequate. It is unclear whether the Council carried out the monitoring referred to in its further response. But if it did, this does not appear to have been effective in resolving the problem. Despite assurances that the recycling was up to date, the service did not improve, and the missed collections continued.
26. Mr X has confirmed the service improved at the end of 2019 and I recognise the Council is now monitoring Mr X’s collections. This should also lead to an improvement.
27. 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 recycling left at his property. 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.

Agreed action

28. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £200 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the failure to make regular waste collections has caused.
29. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

30. The Council's repeated failure to collect Mr X's recycling over a sustained period amounts to fault. This fault has caused an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman