Summary: Miss X complained the Council repeatedly failed to collect her recycling on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when collections were missed. The Council’s repeated failure to make regular recycling collections over a sustained period amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her recycling on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when collections are missed. She states that despite making a complaint and being assured the service would improve the problem continued.

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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 Miss X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Miss X;
• Miss 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. Miss X states there have been problems with her recycling collections since 2019. She states she began reporting missed collections in 2020, but the situation did not improve. Miss X states the problem also affected her neighbours as recycling crews missed all properties in her section of the road.
9. According to the Council’s records, Miss X reported nine missed collections between July and November 2020. Several of her neighbours also reported numerous missed collections earlier in the year, between January and May 2020. And in December 2020.
10. 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.
11. For example, Miss X reported a missed collection on 14 July 2020, which the Council closed on 28 August 2020. However, it closed a report of a missed collection on 3 August 2020 on 14 August 2020. It is unclear why the Council closed the second report before the earlier report, and why, if the Council made a collection on 14 August 2020 it did not close both reports that day.
12. Similarly, several of Miss X’s neighbours reported the collections scheduled for 26 May 2020 as missed. The Council closed two of these reports on 27 May 2020 but did not close the others until 11 June 2020. It is unclear why, if the Council returned to make the missed collection on 27 May 2020, it did not empty all of the missed bins and close all the reports that day.
13. 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.
14. In addition to reporting missed collections, Miss X also made a formal complaint to the Council. In August 2020 Miss X complained that her recycling had not been collected. She stated this had been going on for months and despite reporting the missed collections, the problem was still ongoing. Miss X asked the Council to resolve the problem and explain why her recycling had been continuously missed for months.
15. The Council apologised for the inconvenience. It confirmed it had made a manger aware of the problem and the manger would speak to the crew. As there were further missed collections, Miss X asked the Council to review her complaint. The Council again confirmed it would speak to the collection crew. It also set up a period of monitoring to ensure the crew collected Miss X’s recycling.
16. The monitoring records show the Council missed further collections in October and November 2020, after which, it made all scheduled collections. Miss X disputes this. She states there were also missed collections in December 2020, and the service did not improve until January 2021.
17. In response to my enquiries, the Council states it reorganised the recycling rounds in 2020. Due to an administrative error the collection crew was not set up correctly, which led to reports of missed recycling collections. The Council states it identified and rectified this error in December 2020, and that recycling collections have take place as scheduled since then.

Analysis

18. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Miss X’s recycling on the scheduled day over a sustained period. These failings in the service amount to fault.
19. The Council states Miss X has reported a total of nine missed collections, but it is clear the Council missed significantly more collections throughout 2020. The problem affected all the properties on Miss X’s section of the road, and her neighbours also reported numerous missed collections. Miss X’s complaints also refer to earlier reports of missed collections which are not shown on the Council’s records.
20. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections, or when it actually collected the recycling.
21. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council responded to Miss X’s complaint. Despite the Council’s assurances it had reminded the crew members and regular collections would be made, the service did not improve, and the missed collections continued.
22. The Council states the depot can monitor reports of missed collections by analysing their dropped work spreadsheets to see if certain streets/addresses start to appear frequently. Its mobile technology (in cab device/mobile hand-held device) can also flag up repeat missed collections. Miss X and her neighbours’ recurring reports should therefore have alerted the Council to a potential problem. This should in turn have prompted an investigation to identify and resolve the issue.
23. The Council has not confirmed when it reorganised the rounds, but it did not identify the error with the collection crew’s round until December 2020, while it was monitoring Miss X’s collections. Had the Council properly investigated Miss X’s complaint and the reports of missed collections it could have identified the problem and resolved the issue much sooner.
24. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Miss X an injustice. Miss X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected recycling left at her property. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Miss X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

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Agreed action

25. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £150 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular recycling collections over a sustained period of time has caused.
26. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

27. The Council’s repeated failure to make regular recycling collections over a sustained period amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman