Summary: Mrs X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect household waste from the communal bin servicing her block of flats. This leads to a build-up of waste which is unsightly, unsanitary and can cause problems with odours and rodents. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s household waste on a weekly basis amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect household waste from the communal bin servicing her block of flats. She states that although collections should take place each week, their household waste is only collected every other week. This leads to a build-up of waste which is unsightly, unsanitary and can cause problems with odours and rodents. This is a particular concern for Mrs X given the proximity of her property to the bin store.
2. Mrs X complains that despite the Council’s repeated assurances that crews would be reminded, and the bin would be collected, the problem has continued.

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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 an organisation’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, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mrs X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Mrs X;
• Mrs X and the organisation 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

6. 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.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
8. 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

9. Mrs X complains about failings in the waste collection service since she moved to her property several years ago. Mrs X shares a communal bin store with two other flats, and together with her neighbour has repeatedly complained to the Council about missed collections. She is unhappy that despite assurances from the Council, the service has not improved.
10. Mrs X has provided details of 19 missed collections between January and October 2021, the Council’s records show Mrs X has continued to report missed collection from October 2021 to present. 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.
11. For example, Mrs X reported missed collections on 1, 15 and 29 December 2021, which the Council closed on 16 and 30 December 2021 and 17 January 2022 respectively. It is unclear why the Council did not close the reports on the next scheduled collection, or, if the Council made an additional collection on 16 December 2021, why it did not close the first two reports that day
12. The Council’s records show there were also, on occasion consecutive missed collections, not just alternate weeks.
13. In April 2021 Mrs X and her neighbours made a formal complaint to the Council about the missed collection. In response to an earlier complaint from Mrs X’s neighbour, the Council had arranged to monitor the collections for three months at the start of 2021. Mrs X complained that collections were still routinely missed during this monitoring period and the situation had not improved. Mrs X and her neighbours were concerned collection crews had decided not to empty the bins each week to save themselves time and trouble. This was not a decision the crew could make and Mrs X asked the Council to resolve the problem. The Council responded to Mrs X’s neighbour, but did not respond directly to Mrs X.
14. As the missed collections continued Mrs X made a further complaint to the Council in June 2021 and copied in her local Councillor and MP. Mrs X asserted that as accessing their bin store was not straight forward and the collection crew had to manoeuvre the van within a turning circle, the crew was choosing when to empty the bins. Mrs X noted the missed collections always happened on the weeks when their recycling was not scheduled to be collected. She states she repeatedly asked whether there had been a change to fortnightly collections, but was assured collections were still scheduled to take place weekly.
15. The Council’s response confirmed it had investigated the matter and noted that the collections were not made by crews who collect form residential houses. It stated an officer had visited to ensure that all the waste had been collected and confirmed it would monitor collections to ensure the service improved.
16. This did not resolve the problem, and as there were further missed collections, Mrs X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. In response to my enquiries the Council states Mrs X’s property is currently on a 1100 litre communal container round. As the containers often have little waste in them, the crews have been emptying them on a fortnightly basis for some time. The Council suggests Mrs X and her neighbours were reporting missed collections as they were unaware collections were taking place fortnightly.
17. The Council states that as it has a commitment to provide weekly collections it will look into providing smaller communal bins or individual bins. It will discuss this with the residents before making any changes. The Council accepts it could have pursued this solution much earlier than it has.

Analysis

18. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Mrs X’s household waste as scheduled. The Council accepts that although there should be weekly collections, the crews have, for some time, only been making fortnightly collections. The Council has not confirmed who made the decision to reduce the frequency of collections, or when this decision was made.
19. Residents were not consulted or advised about the change in the frequency of collections and the Council’s response to Mrs X’s complaint makes no reference to a change in the frequency of collections. It is therefore possible the Council was initially unaware, and that the collection crews had instigated this change in practice without formal notice or permission.
20. The Council has not provided any records of the monitoring it told Mrs X it would carry out in June 2021. It is therefore unclear whether this took place, but in any event it does not appear to have been effective in resolving the problem. It is disappointing that having also carried out monitoring in early 2021, which showed alternate collections were being missed, the Council did not identify the reason for this or an appropriate resolution.
21. I recognise the Council will seek to resolve this issue and is considering changing the bins and ensuring there are weekly collections, and this is to be welcomed. But as the Council acknowledges, it could have taken this action much sooner. Had the Council properly investigated Mrs X and her neighbours’ complaints at the outset it could have identified that crews were not complying with its service standards and resolved the issue over a year ago.
22. These failings in the service amount to fault.
23. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mrs X an injustice. Mrs X has had to find ways to manage the accumulation of waste and the associated problems of smells and pests. This was of particular concern to Mrs X as her patio opens out towards the bin store. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Mrs X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

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Agreed action

24. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £300 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make weekly waste collections over a sustained period has caused.
25. In addition the Council has agreed to consult residents on its proposals to improve the service by changing the type of bin it provides. The Council should then keep residents informed of any decisions and a timeframe for implementing any changes.
26. Pending any alterations and improvements to the service the Council has agreed to arrange to monitor Mrs X’s household waste collections for eight weeks to ensure there are weekly collections.
27. The Council should take this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

28. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s household waste on a weekly basis amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman