Summary: Mr X complained the Council repeatedly failed to collect his recycling bins. As a result, Mr X had to make several reports and complaints to the Council. We found the Council was at fault as it did not collect Mr X’s recycling bin in line with its published policy and it failed to properly investigate his complaint. We recommend the Council apologise to Mr X, make a payment for time and trouble, carry out a period of monitoring on his recycling collections and take action to improve its complaints investigations.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect his recycling bins. Mr X says the Council has been inconsistent with its reasoning for this and closed his complaint without resolving the issue.
2. Mr X says this has caused stress and trouble as he has had to spend time chasing the Council when it missed collections.

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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. 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

5. As part of the investigation we:
• considered the complaint and documents provided by Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Mr X.
6. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft decision before we made this 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 their area. Collections do not have to be weekly, and councils can decide which bins or boxes people must use.
8. The Council’s practice is to make fortnightly recycling collections. Its published policy states that bins containing incorrect materials will not be collected.
9. It will collect missed collections reported before 12pm that same day, it will collect missed collections reported after 12pm the following working day.

Good Administrative Practice

10. The Ombudsman published a guide to help local authorities understand the founding principles of good administrative practice in December 2018.
11. This document explains that organisations working on a council’s behalf should adhere to the council’s policies, guidance, and good practice legislation. It also explains councils should have appropriate skills and capacity to effectively manage third-party suppliers delivering services on its behalf.
12. Where things go wrong, the guide sets out councils should put things right quickly and effectively. They should ensure the quality of complaint investigation is the same whether it is handled by the council or a contractor.

What happened here

13. Mr X complains that from the end of 2020 until July 2021, the Council only collected his recycling bins twice, not fortnightly as stated in its published policy.
14. Mr X says he made several reports to the Council in that time, but it gave conflicting information and still missed collections.
15. The Council has records of Mr X reporting missed collections on 4 December 2020, 18 December 2020, 15 January 2021, 25 January 2021, 1 February 2021, and 5 February 2021.
16. Mr X raised a complaint with the Council on 26 February 2021. Mr X explained he had reported several missed collections and was promised these would be made up within two working days, but this did not happen. Mr X explained collections were also missed on 31 December 2020, 11 February 2021, and 25 February 2021.
17. On 4 March 2021 the Council responded to explain its collections crew could not always empty the bins as the recycling had been contaminated on occasion. The Council also referred to the fact different bodies are responsible for collecting different coloured bins.
18. Mr X responded on 16 March 2021 to escalate his complaint to the second stage of the Council’s process. He pointed out there are no blue bins on his road, as referred to by the Council in its response. Mr X also questioned why the Council had never previously told him about the contamination so he could address this. Mr X pointed out he lived in a block of eight homes with eight separate bins and any non-contaminated bins should have been collected.
19. On 1 July 2021 the Council responded to Mr X. The Council explained its waste team had undertaken a site inspection and discussed the situation with the collection crews. The Council explained it could not find any reason why the recycling bins were not collected and said it would monitor this going forward.
20. As the collections did not improve, Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman in July 2021.
21. We asked the Council to evidence the monitoring mentioned in its final response of 1 July 2021. The Council said its recycling partners carried out the complaint and actions. It explained it had been told the matter was resolved but the complaint was not fully investigated and has apologised for not meeting its usual standards here. The Council has said it has now had confirmation the collections teams will collect the recycling bins from the bin store area Mr X has complained about.

Analysis

22. Between December 2020 and July 2021, the Council received six reports of missed collections from Mr X. Mr X has referred to three more in his complaint to the Council. We asked the Council if it had any other reports of missed collections from residents in Mr X’s block in that time and it confirmed it received 10 other reports from six other residents. It is unclear exactly how many collections were missed, but it is clear there has been a recurring problem here.
23. The Council is responsible for the actions of those it engages to provide services such as bin collections. The Council is at fault for not collecting recycling bins in line with its published policy. This has caused considerable trouble for Mr X as he has had to chase repeatedly to try and get his recycling taken away.
24. There is fault with the way the Council has looked into Mr X’s complaint. The Council was aware of issues but did not ensure they were put right quickly and effectively. As a result of this, Mr X’s recycling bins were still not collected regularly as they should have been.
25. The Council is also at fault for failing to carry out monitoring as promised in its letter of 1 July 2021. Failing to do this or investigate Mr X’s complaint properly meant the situation was not resolved and he has had to pursue his complaint with the Ombudsman.

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Agreed action

26. To remedy the outstanding injustice, we recommended the Council:
27. Within one month:
• Provide Mr X with a written apology for failing to ensure his recycling was collected as it should have been, and for failing to properly investigate his complaint.
• Pay Mr X £150 to recognise the time and trouble the Council’s failure to properly investigate his complaint and put things right has caused him.
• Begin three months of monitoring to ensure Mr X’s recycling collections are taking place as scheduled.
28. Within three months:
• Identify why Mr X’s complaint was not properly investigated at the outset, take action to prevent any recurrence of this and inform us of any action taken.
29. The Council has accepted our recommendations.

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Final decision

30. We find fault with the Council for failing to ensure Mr X’s recycling bins were collected regularly. We also find fault with the way the Council responded to Mr X’s reports and complaint and make the recommendations set out above.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman