Summary: We have discontinued our investigation into this complaint, about missed waste collections. This is because the Council has suggested practical solutions and we could not reasonably add anything more to this.

The complaint

1. I will refer to the complainant as Ms L.
2. Ms L complains the Council frequently misses both general waste and recycling collections from her property. This means she has to store excess waste bags in her garden, which are often torn open by wildlife.

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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 provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I reviewed Ms L’s correspondence with the Council, and made enquiries with the Council.
5. I also shared a draft copy of this decision with each party for their comments.

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What I found

6. Ms L lives in one of a row of houses, at the rear of which there is a public footpath. At the end of the footpath there is a small flight of steps down to the main highway.
7. Several years ago the Council decided to introduce wheeled bins to the area. Since then, on collection day, Ms L’s neighbours have wheeled their bins along the footpath and down the steps, where they have left them to be collected.
8. However, at the time the new bins were introduced, Ms L explained to the Council she did not feel able to wheel her bins down the path or the steps. The Council therefore left her with her traditional ‘hand’ bins, with the expectation that crew members would walk up the steps to collect the bags from them.
9. This has proved inconsistent, and Ms L has frequently had to report to the Council her collection has been missed. We investigated and upheld a previous complaint from Ms L in 2021 because of the unreliability of the collection, but this has not resolved the problem, and Ms L has therefore approached to complain again.
10. In particular, Ms L says that, because of the missed collections, she must often store excess waste bags in her garden. These bags are then ripped open by wildlife, and Ms L says she is then forced to spend time picking up and re-bagging the waste which is spread around the garden. She also complains about the amount of money she has had to spend on buying new waste bags, which she estimates at £82.50.

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Analysis

11. In response to my enquiries about this complaint, the Council made the following points:

• Ms L’s property has ‘alternate weekly collections’, whereby general waste is collected one week and recycling the next;
• Ms L has previously told the Council she does not recycle “much”, and the Council has recently visited and confirmed Ms L has two general waste bins but no recycling bins. The Council considers Ms L is generating more general waste than it would expect from a property the size of hers;
• since July 2021, the Council’s records show a total of 11 missed collections, 10 reported by Ms L and another the Council noted itself. On two occasions this was because of vehicle access problems;
• also since July 2021, the Council has been monitoring Ms L’s collections, both by sending an officer to oversee the collections, and by requiring crew members to make a positive record on their task sheet when they have collected Ms L’s bins. Where monitoring identifies a collection has been missed, the Council has arranged a replacement collection. Crew members have also left additional waste bags for Ms L on a number of visits;
• the Council has offered to reimburse Ms L the £82.50 she says she has spent on additional waste bags, and will provide her with two recycling bins to increase her waste storage capacity. It will also continue to monitor the collections to Ms L’s property by requiring crew members to record collections, and by making periodic supervisory site visits.

12. It is evident from the number of missed collections Ms L has suffered there is something of an ongoing problem here. I also note she has previously disputed the Council’s comment about her recycling practices.
13. However, I do not consider further investigation by the Ombudsman could achieve anything useful at the current time. In complaints about missed collections (where the cause is not clear) we would generally recommend a council carry out a period of monitoring, but the Council has already been doing this and says it will continue. It has also noted Ms L lacks recycling bins and has offered to provide some, and so – regardless of the dispute over her recycling practices – this will provide her with more storage capacity.
14. The Council has also offered to reimburse Ms L for the additional waste bags she says she has purchased, despite noting it has provided her with additional bags itself anyway.
15. Taking this all together, I am satisfied with the Council’s proposed actions and do not consider we could reasonably add anything to them. I therefore consider it appropriate to discontinue my investigation.

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Final decision

16. I have discontinued my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman