Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to provide proper waste collections from the communal bins at his block of flats. We have found fault by the Council causing injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this by apologising to Mr X, making a payment to reflect the frustration caused and a period of monitoring.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I am calling Mr X, complains the Council is failing to provide proper waste collections from the communal bins at his block of flats. He says:

• the failures include missed collections, crews not emptying the bins completely, causing damage to a bin and bin store, and leaving broken glass and rubbish on the floor following collections;
• he has made repeated complaints to the Council. It says it has taken action to address the issues, but the failures are ongoing;
• these repeated failures have caused him upset and inconvenience. He has had to spend time reporting issues to the Council and, together with other residents, cleaning up broken glass after collections; and
• the Council should pay the cost of repairing the bin store doors damaged by the bin crews.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these.
3. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future 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. I spoke to Mr X, made enquiries of the Council and read the information Mr X and the Council provided about the complaint.
6. I invited Mr X and the Council to comment on a draft version of this decision. I considered their responses before making my final decision.

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What I found

What should have happened

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. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.

What happened

8. I have set out a summary of the key events below. It is not meant to show everything that happened. It is based on my review of all the evidence provided about this complaint.

April to May 2023: missed collections and other issues

9. Mr X lives in a block of flats. The communal bins are kept in a bin store. The Council’s contractor collects the waste weekly.
10. During the period from April to May Mr X reported a number of issues with the waste collection service to the Council including:

• A bin damaged by the collection crew. This had not yet been removed and replaced;
• Full bins not being emptied;
• Bins not being completely emptied;
• Crew leaving bin bags and mess on the bin store floor, and breaking the bin store door; and
• Missed bin collections;

June 2023: Mr X’s complaint to the Council

11. Mr X complained to the Council about the issues with the bin collections. He said this was the ninth week in a row he’d had to contact the Council and the damaged bin had still not been replaced.

Council’s response

12. The Council told Mr X:

• It accepted there had been ongoing issues with collections;
• One of its officers had attended with the contractors to check the issues reported. The replacement of the damaged bin would be arranged as soon as possible;
• It had asked crews to take photos on their next collection so it could confirm all bins had been emptied properly; and
• The contractor’s supervisor would attend the next collections to check these had been properly completed and report back to the Council.

Mr X’s complaint to us

13. Mr X told us the Council had not resolved the waste collection issues. He was still having to contact it on a weekly basis.
14. The damaged bin had only just been replaced. Bins were still not being emptied, or properly emptied, broken glass left after the bins were emptied was not cleared away and the crew had damaged the bin store doors.

Council’s response to our enquiries

15. The Council told us about its service standards for waste collections from communal bins at a block of flats. These are:

• weekly collections on a scheduled day;
• crews will remove the communal bins from the storage location, tip them into vehicles using a bin lift and return them to the storage location. Any waste remaining in the bins due to compaction will not be manually handled;
• excess waste not contained within the bins will not be removed. This should be reported to the managing agents for clearance;
• missed collections should be reported within two working days. If agreed, a crew will return to empty the missed bins within three working days; and
• crews should clear spillages or report them for clearance by a cleansing crew.

16. And it said:

• A claim for any damage to the bin store doors should be made by the flats’ managing agents, on behalf of all the residents, and not by individual residents. The claim would then be dealt with by the contractor’s insurers. It has advised the managing agents of this process;
• Requests for the replacement of damaged bins should be made by the managing agents; and
• It had carried out further monitoring of weekly collections from the end of September and also completed spot checks.

My analysis – was there fault by the Council causing injustice?

17. The Council has accepted there have been ongoing issues for some months with the communal bin collections from Mr X’s block of flats. I consider its failure to provide a proper waste collection service is fault.
18. This has caused Mr X frustration and inconvenience. He has also been put to time and trouble contacting the Council to report issues and making complaints because of the repeated issues.
19. I note the Council has carried out monitoring and spot checks in response to Mr X’s complaints about collection issues. I have recommended it continue this monitoring for a further period to ensure the issues have now been properly addressed.

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Agreed action

20. To remedy the injustice caused by the above faults and, within four weeks from the date of our final decision, the Council has agreed to:

• apologise to Mr X for failing to provide a proper waste collection service. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended; and
• pay Mr X £150 to recognise the upset and frustration caused by the waste collection issues over a number of months and his time reporting these. This is a symbolic amount based on our guidance on remedies.

21. Additionally, the Council should:

• monitor the collections from the communal bins at Mr X’s block of flats for the next two months;
• keep records of this monitoring, including the condition of the communal bins and bin store before and after collections and any actions taken to address identified issues or in response to residents’ reports of issues; and
• provide us with its monitoring records after this exercise.

22. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with all the above actions.

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Final decision

23. I have completed my investigation of this complaint and found fault by the Council, causing injustice. The Council has agreed to take the above action as a suitable way of remedying this injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman