Summary: Mr B complains the Council failed to consistently provide an assisted bin collection. The Council missed three collections over a year and on each occasion, it emptied his bin either that day, or the following day. While the missed bin collections were frustrating for Mr B, three missed collections over a year does not amount to fault, the Council resolved the matter quickly and within the timescales of the Council’s policy.

The complaint

1. Mr B says he has been experiencing problem with bin collections for more that 10 years. He complains the Council:
• missed his assisted collection;
• failed to return bins to the correct place; and
• failed to fully empty the bins.
2. Mr B also complains the Council’s communication has been poor, and it failed to respond to his complaint about a neighbour.

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What I have investigated

3. I have investigated Mr B’s complaint about his assisted bin collection. The Ombudsman normally expects people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. Therefore, my investigation will start from 12 months before Mr B made a complaint to the Council; April 2019.
4. I have not investigated Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s investigation of his noise complaint against his neighbour. Mr B complained to the Council and received a response in 2017. Mr B could have complained to the Ombudsman in 2017 and therefore the complaint is late.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. 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)
6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
7. 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

8. I considered:
• Mr B’s complaint and the information he provided;
• documents supplied by the Council;
• relevant legislation and guidelines; and
• the Council’s policies and procedures.
9. Mr B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft decision. Their comments were considered before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and guidance

10. Councils have a legal duty to collect household waste (Environmental Protection Act 1990).
11. The Council's policy says:
• The standard service for collection of domestic waste, dry recycling and garden waste is an alternate weekly service.
• Assisted collections are available to anyone with a disability or mobility problem where no one in the household can take the bins to the normal collection point.
• The collection team will collect the waste or recycling from a location agreed with the Council, empty the bin, and return it to the agree location.
• For assisted bin collections, the Council will only return for missed collections if there was access to the bin.
• A resident must report a missed collection within 24 hours of the normal collection. The Council will arrange for missed collections reported within this timescale to be collected, whenever possible, the next working day.
• Any missed collections reported after this time will not be collected until the next scheduled collection day.

What happened

12. Mr B has an assisted bin collection.
13. In April 2019, Mr B reported the Council had not collected his recycling bin. The crew said it did not empty the bin because it was behind a locked gate. In response to Mr B’s report, it sent a spare crew to his property to empty the bin.
14. In August 2019, Mr B advised the Council it left his domestic bin on the footpath after it had been emptied, rather than return it to the collection point, and that his garden waste bin had not been emptied. The Council told Mr B the crew would return his domestic waste bin to the normal collection point when it emptied his recycling bin later that day. Mr B was unhappy with this. He also raised concerns the crew left the gates to his property open. The following day, Mr B told the Council his bin had not been emptied. The Council sent a crew to Mr B’s address to empty the bin.
15. In December 2019, Mr B reported to the Council that when his domestic waste bin was emptied, the crew did not return it to his collection point. Mr B said he was worried that if his bin was left on the footpath someone would steal it. He told the Council he spoke to the crew about this and they were abusive. The Council explained the crew would return his domestic waste bin to his collection point when it emptied his recycling bin later that day. Mr B made a complaint.
16. The Council investigated Mr B’s complaint the bin crew were abusive towards him. It could not identify the crew member Mr B said was abusive.
17. The Council replied to Mr B’s complaint in January 2020. The Council recognised his frustration at having to report missed collections and his concerns about his bin being stolen. It advised that because of its crew’s workload, the policy was that if more than one bin was emptied on the same day, the crew could return the bins to the collection point at the same time. The Council said it would remind its crews that Mr B has an assisted collection and where his collection point is. Mr B was unhappy with the Council’s response.
18. In response, the Council wrote to Mr B again. The Council apologised for missed bin collections and explained when the crews changed, the new crews were less familiar with his collection point. The Council reminded Mr B who to contact to report missed bins and asked him to make one call about each missed collection. The Council advised Mr B to contact the Ombudsman if he remained unhappy with its response.
19. Mr B complained to the Ombudsman in January 2020.
20. In April 2020, the Council met with Mr B at his property to discuss the problems he had raised about his assisted bin collection.
21. In June 2020, Mr B told the Council it had not emptied his garden waste bin. The bin crew returned that day to collect his bin.
22. When I spoke to Mr B in July 2020, he said the Council appeared to have put things right and advised there had been no problems with his domestic waste collection for two months and his garden waste for two weeks.

Analysis

23. Between April 2019 and June 2020, the Council recorded three missed bin collections for Mr B. On each occasion, when Mr B reported the missed collection, the Council returned to empty it either that day or the following day. While these missed bin collections were frustrating for Mr B, three sporadic missed collections over a year does not amount to fault, especially as the Council resolved the matters quickly and within the timescales of its policy.
24. Mr B was unhappy that when the Council collected two bins on the same day, it did not return them to his collection point as soon as they had been emptied and waited until they were both empty. The Council advised it was standard practice for crews to return bins to collection points at the same time to manage their workload. There is no fault with the Council working in this way.
25. Mr B complained the bin crew were abusive when he asked them to return his bins to the collection point as soon as they were emptied. I have no evidence to support or refute this allegation and therefore I cannot make a finding on this part of Mr B’s complaint.

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Final decision

26. I have completed my investigation and do not uphold Mr B’s complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman