Summary: Mr X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect his recycling on the scheduled day for approximately four months. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s recycling amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I will refer to as Mr X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect his recycling on the scheduled day for approximately four months.

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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
• Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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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 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

8. Mr X complains the Council did not collect his recycling at all for about four months. He states the collection crew would collect the recycling from the properties on the opposite side of the road but would then turn into the side street and not return to collect the recycling from the properties on his side of the road. Mr X states this affected a stretch of about 15 to 20 houses.
9. According to the Council’s records, Mr X reported five missed recycling collections between July 2019 and February 2020. 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.
10. For example, Mr X reported a missed collection on 8 July 2019, which the Council closed on 21 August 2019. This would suggest that the Council also missed the collections scheduled for 22 July, and 5 and 19 August 2019. If the Council had made these collections, it could have closed the report on those days.
11. There are further inconsistencies in the reports of missed collections in late 2019 / early 2020. Mr X reported missed collections on 25 November and 9 December 2019, which the Council closed on 24 December 2019 and 6 January 2020 respectively. This is curious as if the Council had made the collection on 24 December 2019, it could have closed both reports that day. In addition, the records also show Mr X reported the collection scheduled for 6 January 2020 as missed.
12. 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.
13. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mr X also made a formal complaint. In late November 2019 Mr X complained the Council routinely collected the recycling from houses on the opposite side of the road but missed the houses on his side of the road. He said the Council had missed the last three consecutive collections.
14. The Council apologised for the reduced level of service. It confirmed it had escalated the matter to the Depot Service Manager, so they were aware of the need to prioritise Mr X’s collection. As the Council missed the next scheduled collection, Mr X asked for his complaint to be reviewed. The Council confirmed the Depot Manager would speak to the crew to see if there were any issues impacting on collections. It also confirmed it would monitor Mr X’s next two collections.
15. Mr X was unhappy the Council had not collected his recycling for around 16 weeks and asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. In response to my enquiries the Council states the designated collection crew had mistakenly thought another crew was responsible for Mr X’s collections. The Depot Manager has clarified the matter and there should be no further issues going forward.
16. Mr X has confirmed the service has improved in recent months.

Analysis

17. It is clear from the Council’s records that it repeatedly failed to collect Mr X’s recycling for several months in 2019/20. These failings in the service amount to fault.
18. The Council accepts it has missed collections, and that there will have been delays in making these missed collections. Its records of Mr X’s reported missed collections, when it subsequently made the collections, and then closed the reports are inconsistent and unreliable.
19. Given the misunderstanding regarding responsibility for collections on Mr X’s side of the road, I consider it likely there were many more missed collections than the Council’s records suggest.
20. 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.
21. I recognise the Council has identified the cause of the missed collections and that the service has since improved.

Agreed action

22. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £100 in recognition of the frustration, difficulties the failure to make regular recycling collections has caused.

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Final decision

23. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s recycling amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.
24. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman