Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council not providing separate food waste collection from flats. This is because there is currently no legal or policy requirement for it do so and for that reason, he cannot find fault with the position of the Council, or the steps it is taking.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr V, is making a complaint about a lack of food waste recycling provision by the Council. He feels the lack of provision constitutes discrimination and a lack of equal opportunities towards residents in flats, since separate food waste collection is offered by the Council for kerbside residents.

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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 provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have reviewed Mr V’s complaint to the Council and Ombudsman. I have also had regard to the following:

• HM Government, ‘Resources and Waste Strategy’ (2018)
• Hillingdon’s application for £500,000 grant funding for Food Waste Recycling 2020/21
• Animal By-Products Regulation (ABPR) 1069/2009

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What I found

Background

4. There are currently no legal requirements for separate food collections in England. However, the Government’s ‘Resources and Waste Strategy’ envisages legislation for mandatory separate food waste collections in 2023.
5. The waste collection authority for an area (usually the local authority) takes the lead in recycling operations, and decisions on collection regimes are for local councils to make. However, at present, any food waste collections must be compliant with the ABPR introduced following the foot and mouth outbreak in 2003. This raises practical challenges for collections from flats as ABPR requires that food waste is collected in covered, leak-proof, containers and vehicles, and that the food waste is treated at an ABPR compliant site.
6. A recycling charity has outlined one means of being compliant with the ABPR for flats is collection from a communal area using larger caddies. In these circumstances, residents would use a small kitchen caddy in the home and transfer the food waste to larger caddies which are presented in a communal area such as the bin store for collection.

What happened

7. Since February 2020, Mr V has been raising concerns with the Council regarding a lack of service for food waste recycling in flats.
8. In June 2020, the Council informed Mr V that it was fully committed to recycle as much as possible. It acknowledged that while it has been providing kerbside food waste recycling since 2014, it is not yet able to offer this in flatted developments. However, the Council outlined that it is in progress of developing a communal food waste bin for flats, but this would need a bespoke food waste vehicle to lift the bin. It advised that it has been working to secure funding for both the vehicles and a crew needed to provide food waste collections.
9. In July 2020, Mr V remained dissatisfied with the Council and brought his complaint to the Ombudsman.

Assessment

10. There is currently no legal requirement for local authorities to provide food waste collection. For this reason, I cannot find fault with the current position of the Council and the steps it is taking. Legislation covering mandatory food waste collections is due in 2023 and the available evidence suggests the Council is working to meet this target by seeking funding to put in place ABPR compliant collections for residential flat developments.

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Final decision

11. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because I cannot find fault with the position of the Council or the steps it is currently taking to reduce food waste.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman