Birmingham City Council (21 010 847)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 20 Apr 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Ms X complained the Council repeatedly failed to collect her refuse sacks on the scheduled days while collecting her neighbours’ wheelie bins. The Council’s failure to routinely collect Ms X’s waste on the scheduled days is fault. This fault has caused Ms X an injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms X complained the Council repeatedly failed to collect her refuse sacks on the scheduled days while collecting her neighbours’ wheelie bins.
- Ms X complains that despite the Council’s repeated assurances that crews would be reminded, and her refuse sacks would be collected, the problem continued.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- As part of the investigation, I have:
- considered the complaint and the information provided by Ms X;
- made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided; and
- Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
Refuse and recycling collections
- 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, sacks or boxes people must use.
- The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
- 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
- Ms X states that several years ago the Council determined the properties on her street were not suitable for wheelie bins as there is nowhere to store them. Residents continued to present their household waste in black bin bags. Since then more and more residents have been given wheelie bins and most houses on her street now have them. Ms X does not have, and does not want, a wheelie bin.
- Ms X states that last year the collection crews started leaving her black bags while collecting her neighbours’ wheelie bins. Ms X states she does not have much rubbish and would only put out one black bag, but this was repeatedly missed. According to the Council’s records Ms X has only reported one missed collection, and that was in August 2021.
- However in July 2021 Ms X made a formal complaint to the Council as the crews had failed to collect her black bags on several occasions when emptying her neighbours’ bins. Ms X asked the Council to ensure the collection crews were aware her street was not just bin collections and to collect her black bags. When collections were missed Ms X had to bring her black bag back into her house which was annoying and unpleasant.
- The Council’s response apologised for the problems with the collection service and confirmed it aimed to clear a missed collection at the next available opportunity. If this was not possible the Council would collect a reasonable amount of side waste on the next scheduled collection.
- Ms X contacted the Council again a fortnight later as her black bag had again not been collected when her neighbours’ bins were emptied. Ms X did not want to leave her bag outside too long and did not want to report a missed collection as the route was completed. She again asked the Council to tell the collection crew to collect bags of rubbish as well as the wheelie bins.
- According to the Council’s records Ms X asked the Council to review her complaint in September 2021 as the problem had not been resolved. The Council contacted the depot to query why the bags were missed and to ask that the crew be reminded to collect the sacks as well as emptying the bins. The depot response states it does not and will not collect extra bags as it has a no side waste policy. There is no record of the Council clarifying with the depot that Ms X’s waste was not side waste or that her black bags should be collected every week.
- The Council responded to Ms X’s review request in October 2021. It apologised for the continued poor service and confirmed it had requested reminders for the crews to ensure the bags were collected as scheduled along with her neighbours’ wheelie bins. The Council also advised the crews would collect 3 or 4 sacks (the equivalent to the contents of a wheelie bin) each collection, but if more bags were presented they would be classed as side waste and not removed.
- Ms X responded the same day to advise the collection crew had failed to collect her black bag again that week. She asked the Council to speak directly to the crews as the previous reminders had not been effective.
- As this did not resolve the problem and the Council also failed to collect her black bag the following week, Ms X asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. Ms X states she is unable to rely on the collection service and cannot put waste sacks out if she is going away or leaving the house before the collection.
- In response to my enquiries the Council states Ms X’s street is predominantly on sack collection and was routed as such when wheelie bins were rolled out in 2013. It states residents are permitted to put out up to four sacks each week. It states the missed collection reported in August 2021 is the only missed collection ever reported from Ms X’s property.
Analysis
- Although the Council states Ms X has only reported one missed collection, it is clear from the documentation provided that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect Ms X’s waste. Ms X’s correspondence with the Council between July and October 2021 refers to multiple missed collections.
- The Council does not dispute Ms X’s complaints about missed collections, but rather apologises for the poor service. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections. The failure to routinely collect Ms X’s waste on the scheduled days is fault.
- It is also of concern that the depot did not address the Council’s query about refuse sacks not being collected from Ms X’s street, and the request for the crews to be reminded. The depot’s comments about side waste, which is only relevant to bin collections, not sack collections, suggest it did not properly consider the problems Ms X was experiencing.
- This fault has caused Ms X an injustice as when the waste is not collected Ms X has to take it back into her house and either store or dispose of the waste herself. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem.
- It is unclear whether the service has improved as Ms X has not routinely been putting her waste out for collection since the start of the year.
Agreed action
- The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and pay her £100 in recognition of the frustration, difficulties the failure to make regular waste collections has caused.
- The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.
Final decision
- The Council’s failure to routinely collect Ms X’s waste on the scheduled days is fault. This fault has caused Ms X an injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman