Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about a charge to dispose a roof tile at the waste and recycling centre. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and insufficient evidence of injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains that the Council imposed a charge when he tried to leave a broken roof tile at the waste and recycling centre. Mr X says the tile is household waste and the law prevents the Council for charging for household waste. Mr X wants an assurance he will not be charged in the future and for the Council to pay him compensation for the distress and upset.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s response. I considered the legal advice the Council obtained before introducing the charge and I considered its charging policy. I looked at the charging policies of some other councils. I considered comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Charging policy

4. The Council accepts household waste free of charge. The Council does not treat waste created from home improvements or repairs as household waste and it has no duty to accept it. It collects such waste as a discretionary service for which there is a charge. The items that attract a charge include rubble, soil, tiles ceramics, glass and plaster. The charge for one bag of rubbish, or one item, is £3.60.
5. The Council introduced the charge following a consultation in 2017. Of the people who responded, 55% supported the introduction of the rubble charge.
6. Many other councils have the same policy and charge for waste created by home improvements and repairs. The law does not say a council must treat DIY waste as household waste. It does say that waste from construction works, including preparatory work, shall be treated as industrial waste. The law also says the householder has a duty to dispose of such waste responsibly.

What happened

7. Mr X tried to dispose of a broken roof tile at the centre. He complained when he found out there would be a charge. He says he disposed of the tile elsewhere. Mr X says the tile was household waste from his home and the Council has a legal duty to accept it free of charge.
8. In response the Council explained it had an introduced the charge so it could continue to provide a discretionary service. It summarised to Mr X the legal advice it had obtained which said that waste from home repairs is not household waste so it can attract a charge. It explained that 55% of people had supported the charge during the consultation.

Assessment

9. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council obtained legal advice before deciding to treat waste from household repairs/DIY as non-household waste. It is not fault for a council to obtain, and then follow, legal advice. There is no reason for the Ombudsman to question that legal advice especially when there is no regulation which says that DIY waste must be treated as household waste. The Council’s policy is consistent with many other councils who charge to dispose of waste generated by household repairs.
10. Mr X has correctly said the Council has a duty to collect household waste free of charge but he has not provided a specific argument as to why the legal advice provided to the Council is wrong.
11. I also will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of injustice, It would have cost Mr X £3.60 to dispose of the tile and a dispute over £3.60, even bearing in mind Mr X’s feelings of upset, is not sufficient to warrant an investigation or compensation. And, while Mr X says he is acting to stop an injustice which affects everyone, I would only consider this if there was evidence of fault.

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Final decision

12. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault and insufficient evidence of injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman