Summary: Miss X complained the Council’s bin collection crews regularly failed to empty her household waste and recycling bins. The Ombudsman considers found fault causing injustice when the Council’s contractor missed several collections.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council’s bin collection crews regularly fail to take away her household waste and recycling.
2. Miss X said this led to a build-up of rubbish and vermin. She also said she was put to time and trouble complaining to the Council.
3. Miss X would like the Council to ensure it empties her bins on time. She would also like her own individual household waste bin back.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. 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

6. As part of the investigation I have considered the following:
• The complaint and the documents provided by the complainant.
• Documents provided by the Council and its comments in response to my enquiries.
• The Environmental Protection Act 1990.
7. 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

Legislation and Council Procedure

8. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in their area. The collections do not have to be weekly, and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
9. Councils can contract out their waste collection service. When a council commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf it remains responsible for those services.
10. On Miss X’ street, the Council collects waste and recycling weekly. If the Council misses a collection the resident should report it within three working days, or the Council will not return to empty the bin.
11. The Council has an online system for reporting missed collections. Its system is designed to recognise repeat missed collections for its waste team to review.

What happened

12. Miss X lives in a row of flats which is accessed by an alleyway off a residential street.
13. Miss X said the Council started to miss waste and recycling collections in 2020 or 2021. She believes the bin crews were unaware flats were located down the alleyway. Miss X reported the problem to the Council and the collections improved.
14. However, problems with collections started again in August 2021. Miss X reported a missed collection in August and two more missed collections in September.
15. This time the collections did not improve, so Miss X complained to the Council on 21 September.
16. The Council replied to Miss X on 15 October. It apologised for not emptying her bins as scheduled. It advised Miss X to report missed collections online in future so its collection team can arrange to empty her bins the next day. The Council said it had escalated the issue with its contactor to ensure they emptied Miss X’s bins on the next scheduled collection.
17. Miss X reported a further missed collection in October, and two missed collections in November. She therefore complained to the Council again. She complained about repeated failures to empty the bins from her address, and that the build-up of rubbish attracted vermin.
18. Miss X reported two more missed collections in December.
19. The Council sent its final complaint response on 5 January 2022. It upheld Miss X’s complaint and apologised for the inconvenience. The Council said:
• Its contractor should have a note on their system to explain the location of Miss X’s home, so the bins crews know where to look for and collect the bins.
• Its contractor emptied Miss X’s bins within one to three days of a missed collection on all but two occasions. On one occasion it took five days. On another it did not empty her bins at all because a report was not sent to the contractor’s system.
• A supervisor would inspect the site and it would then monitor her collections for eight weeks.

My Investigation

20. As part of my investigation, Miss X confirmed her collections had improved since January 2022. However, she thinks the Council could have resolved the problem sooner.
21. Miss X told me she previously had her own individual waste bin, but now she must share with residents of neighbouring flats. Miss X would like to have her own bin again.
22. In response to my investigation, the Council told me its waste team was not aware of residents where Miss X lives having individual bins. It denied making any changes. It said the property Miss X lives in is not suitable for the bulk waste bins it would normally expect for flats. However, it said residents do not have individual bins, they use them in a communal manner.
23. The Council said the service issues Miss X experienced were caused by staff absences and driver and fuel shortages. This meant regular bins crews were sometimes replaced with other crews or temporary staff.

Analysis

24. The Council confirmed it missed scheduled collections eight times between 20 August 2021 and 31 December 2021. That was fault.
25. On the evidence seen, the Council’s bin crews returned to collect Miss X’s waste or recycling within one to three days on all but two occasions.
26. On one occasion it took the bins crews five days to return, but the waste was collected before the next scheduled collection date.
27. On another occasion the bins crews did not empty Miss X’s bins at all because the Council’s online reporting system did not send the details to its contractor.
28. Following Miss X’s complaint, I found the Council visited her address and highlighted the location of her home, and her neighbours, on a map which it gave to its contractor.
29. The contractor told the Council it had added a note for Miss X and her neighbours’ collections.
30. The Council also asked its contactor to put monitoring in place. The Council sent me evidence of the monitoring, including photographs of emptied bins.
31. Miss X confirmed there have been no missed collections since her complaint to the Ombudsman. I am therefore satisfied the Council has now resolved matters. If further issues arise Miss X can report them in the normal way.
32. Miss X is unhappy the Council did not resolve matters sooner. The Council’s website says its reporting system picks up on repeat missed collections. That does not appear to have happened in this case.
33. When Miss X first complained in September 2021, the Council said it escalated the issue with its contractor. However, the situation did not improve. That was a missed opportunity, and I can appreciate Miss X’s frustration that missed collections continued.
34. Miss X experienced missed waste and recycling collections over a period of five months, including two missed collections a month on three occasions. She had to complain twice to resolve matters. This caused Miss X distress and frustration. That is her injustice.
35. The Council was not aware Miss X and neighbours previously had their own bins. It is up to the Council to decide what type of bins it gives residents, and it is not the role of the Ombudsman to say which type of bins are most suitable. As the missed collections have stopped, I have not made any recommendations in that regard.

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Agreed action

36. Within four weeks of my final decision, the Council agreed to:
• Apologise to Miss X for not resolving her missed waste and recycling complaint sooner.
• Pay Miss X £100 to recognise the distress and frustration its faults caused.

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Final decision

37. I have completed my investigation. The Ombudsman found fault causing injustice when the Council’s contractor missed several waste and recycling collections.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman