Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling for several years. The Council’s repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections over an extended period amounts to fault. This fault has 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 collect her household waste and recycling for several years. Mrs X should receive assisted collections, but she states the Council routinely misses her bins when collecting her neighbours’ waste and recycling.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated Mrs X complaints about problems with her household waste and recycling collections since 2019.

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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. 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)
5. 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

6. 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
• Mrs 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

7. 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.
8. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
9. The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who are unable to move their bins and boxes due to a disability or age. The Council should collect the bins from the storage point and return them to the same point.
10. 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

11. Mrs X states there have been problems with her assisted collection since the Council changed from sack collections to wheelie bin collections several years ago. Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling bins. Mrs X should receive assisted collections, but she states the Council routinely misses her bins when collecting her neighbours’ waste and recycling.
12. According to the Council’s records, Mrs X reported 18 missed household waste collections and 10 missed recycling collections between March 2019 and February 2020. Often with consecutive weeks being missed. 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.
13. In relation to the recycling, the records show Mrs X reported missed collections on 29 March and 12 April 2019, which the Council closed on 15 April and 29 April 2019, respectively. This is curious as had the Council made a collection on 15 April 2019, it could have closed both reports that day.
14. Similarly, Mrs X reported missed household waste collections on 8, 15 and 22 November 2019, which the Council closed on 22 November, 3 December, and 10 December 2019, respectively. The accuracy of these records is questionable as had the Council collected Mrs X’s household waste on 22 November 2019, it could have closed the reports of 8 and 15 November 2019 that day. And it would not have been necessary for Mrs X to report a further missed collection on 22 November 2019.
15. 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.
16. Mrs X has also made formal complaints to the Council about the assisted collection service. These complaints refer to further missed collections not included in the records provided by the Council. Mrs X first complained in April 2019. She stated the Council had missed three consecutive recycling collections and missed her household waste every other week. Mrs X also complained that when the crews did collect her waste, they left her bins directly outside her front door so that she could not get out.
17. The Council’s complaint policy states it will respond to complaints within 15 working days. However, it did not respond to Mrs X until late June 2019, almost 9 weeks later. The Council apologised for the delay and explained it had faced some challenging circumstances within waste management, that had resulted in missed collections. There were still a number of operational difficulties it was working to resolve. It asked Mrs X to continue to leave her bin out on the usual collection day.
18. Mrs X was unhappy with the Council’s response. She considered the missed collections were an individual problem linked to her assisted collections. They were separate to anything affecting the rest of the road as her neighbour’s waste was collected when hers was left. The Council confirmed it had highlighted Mrs X’s property as needing assisted collections and had asked for further action.
19. As the situation did not improve and there were further missed household waste and recycling collections, Mrs X made a further complaint in October 2019. She reported that her recycling had not been collected for six weeks and her household for three weeks. The bins were too heavy for Mrs X to move and were now very smelly. The Council apologised for the reduced level of service and confirmed it had passed Mrs X’s complaint to the Service Manager who had spoken to the crew.
20. The service improved for a couple of weeks, then Mrs X reported further problems. She stated the crew had come on to her property but not emptied her bin. In January 2020 the Council arranged a special collection for all the accumulated waste. It confirmed it had again alerted the Service Manager so they could speak to the crews and that it would monitor Mrs X’s bin collections for the next three months.
21. As Mrs X was not satisfied by this response and the Council continued to miss collections, she asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. Since complaining to us, the Council has advised Mrs X the problem was with where the bins were stored, and that Mrs X presented large quantities of cat litter which were too heavy for the crews to safely handle. It arranged for an officer from the waste prevention service to visit her to discuss the problem.
22. Mrs X questioned how the Council expected her to move the bin if it was too heavy for the crew to move. She also queried how the crews knew the bin was too heavy when they do not come on to her property to try and move it. Mrs X also noted that this did not explain the failure to collect her recycling.
23. An officer visited Mrs X and agreed to look into whether she could go back to sack collections. Mrs X suggested she could leave the sacks by her front door which would be easier for the crews than having to drag the wheelie bin up the steep steps. The Council later confirmed it would not put Mrs X back onto sack collections as the bags would be heavy and there was a risk of splitting. The Council did not consider cat litter was domestic waste and asserted that Mrs X should just use her bin for household waste.
24. Mrs X agreed she would just use the wheelie bin for domestic waste and would arrange for someone else to take her cat litter away. The Council collected the accumulated waste in early March 2020, and the service has since improved.
25. In response to my enquiries the Council states Mrs X’s continual presentation of cat litter was an issue which contributed to missed household collections. The bins were very heavy due to cat litter with fairly steep steps to and from her front doorstep. Since Mrs X stopped doing so her household collections have stabilised and the last reported missed collection was in February 2020.
26. The Council does however acknowledge it should have resolved this issue much sooner.
27. The Council states there are no hard and fast rules on heavy items such as cat litter being put in the household waste bin. Each case is judged on its merits. Residents are expected to present their household waste in an appropriate manner. They should not present side waste or overfill bags so that they are either too heavy or get stuck inside a bin, making it more difficult to tip the bag into the rear of the collection vehicle.
28. In response to the draft decision Mrs X questions the Council’s view that her bins are too heavy, and that cat litter is not household waste. She asserts her bin would only have been heavy when collections were missed, and the crews had to drag the accumulated waste up her steps. This would not have been an issue if the Council had collected her bins each week.
29. Mrs X feels she is being penalised as there are steep narrow steps down to her property. She asserts her bins would not be deemed too heavy if they were presented at the roadside, rather than at the bottom of her steps. In the circumstances, Mrs X would like the Council to provide a sack, rather than bin collection service.

Analysis

30. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Mrs X’s household waste and recycling. These failings in the service amount to fault.
31. The Council states Mr X has reported a total of 18 missed household waste and 10 missed recycling collections, but I consider it likely the Council missed significantly more collections. There are inconsistencies in the Council’s records, and I note Mrs X’s complaints refer to consecutive missed collections which are not included in the Council’s figures.
32. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records to be a reliable indicator of the extent of the problem.
33. I recognise the service has improved since Mrs X agreed to stop putting large amounts of cat litter in the bin, but it is clear the matter could have been resolved sooner. The Council’s initial responses to Mrs X’s complaints were generic and did not address her specific concerns. Had the Council identified when Mrs X first complained that the problem was the weight of Mrs X’s bins this could have been addressed. In addition, if the crews were routinely refusing, or unable to collect Mrs X’s household waste due to the weight of the bin, I would have expected the crews to have notified the depot of the issue. Particularly as the Council repeatedly spoke to the crews about Mrs X’s collections. Again, this could have led to an earlier resolution of the problem.
34. While the weight of Mrs X’s household waste bin may explain some of the missed collections, it is unclear why this would impact on her recycling collections. The Council has not offered an explanation for the missed recycling collections, but I note this service has also improved.
35. Mrs X disputes that disposing of cat litter in her household waste bin makes it too heavy for the collection crews to move, but this is a decision for the Council. The Council has a duty to protect the health and safety of the collection crews. This includes ensuring bins and sacks are not too heavy for the crews to safely handle. It may be the case that if the crews did not have to pull the bin up the steep narrow steps, the weight would not be such an issue. But the position of Mrs X’s property means the bins are stored near the bottom of these steps and have to be pulled to the roadside. The weight of the bins will inevitably affect the crews ability to safely manoeuvre the bins up the steps.
36. I recognise Mrs X would like to return to sack rather than bin collections, but this is a decision for the Council. The Council is concerned about the weight of the sacks and the risk of them splitting, and has assessed Mrs X’s property as suitable for bin collections. This is a decision the Council is entitled to make.
37. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mrs X an injustice. Mrs X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected household waste and recycling left at her property, often for several weeks. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to address her concerns and resolve the problem. Mrs X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

38. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £300 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections has caused.
39. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

40. The Council’s repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections over an extended period amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman