Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to stop providing additional recycling sacks to local residents. This is because he has not been caused an injustice significant enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council supplies residents with bags for recyclable materials at the start of the year. He says the Council used to make additional bags available for collection during the year but has stopped doing this.
2. He says bags purchased by local residents will not be of the same standard as ones provided by the Council and so recyclable materials will end up in landfill.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue an investigation if we decide any 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant which includes the Council’s response to his complaint.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council provides local people with 50 clear disposable 55 litre sacks each year to enable them to collect recyclable materials. The bags are then collected as part of regular kerbside collections during the year. The Council says it no longer provides additional sacks during the year but these can be purchased elsewhere.
7. The Council’s decision to stop providing extra disposable recycling sacks has not caused Mr X an injustice that would warrant investigation by the Ombudsman. Additional sacks are available to purchase elsewhere and the Council will collect these as part of its normal collections.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not been caused an injustice significant enough to warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman