Summary: Miss X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her recycling as scheduled since July 2024 which has led to an accumulation of waste which is unsightly and smells. We found the Council’s repeated failure to collect Miss X’s recycling over a sustained period is fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Miss X to remedy this injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her recycling as scheduled since July 2024. Miss X complained the missed collections affect the whole street and have led to an accumulation of waste which is unsightly and smells.
2. Miss X also complained the Council delayed in responding to her complaint.

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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 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 considered evidence provided by Miss X and Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Miss X and Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

7. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to arrange for the collection of 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.
8. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
9. 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.
10. In January 2025 collection crews began industrial action. This began with specific strike days each week when waste would not be collected. Then from 11 March 2025 it became an all-out strike. The Council suspended recycling collections when industrial action began and then declared a major incident on 31 March 2025 to address the impact of the industrial action.

What happened here

11. Miss X complains that since early July 2024 the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her own or her neighbours’ recycling.
12. According to the Council’s records Miss X reported six missed recycling collections between July 2024 and January 2025. Miss X’s neighbours have also reported 12 missed recycling collections over the same period. The records note that several of these missed collections were due to the round being dropped due to operational issues.
13. 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. Miss X disputes these collections were made.
14. In late July 2024 Miss X made a formal complaint to the Council about the waste collection service. She complained that in the previous four weeks two collections had been made late and a further two had not been made at all. The consecutive missed collections meant there was three weeks’ worth of rubbish on the street. She asked the Council to collect their bins and the accumulated waste.
15. The Council responded on 30 July 2024 and advised the depot had been experiencing operational difficulties and this had affected a large amount of scheduled collections. It said it was in the process of restructuring the refuse and recycling rounds and this had impacted on the service.
16. The Council advised residents to leave their bins out and said it would do everything possible to catch up any dropped roads as soon as possible. It apologised for the disruption and difficulty this caused.
17. Miss X responded the same day and told the Council the household waste had now been collected, but the recycling had been missed again. She asked for the matter to be investigated and the waste collected as a matter of urgency as six week of weeks of accumulated recycling would be unacceptable.
18. Miss X contacted the Council again on 16 August 2024 as the accumulated recycling had still not been collected and the scheduled collection had been missed again. She then contacted the Council on 31 August 2024 as it was now over a month since she had first complained and the recycling had still not been collected.
19. As the Council did not respond to Miss X’s emails, in early September 2024 she telephoned the Council to chase a response and ask for all the uncollected recycling to be collected as the street was overrun with waste.
20. The Council reviewed Miss X’s complaint at stage 2 of the complaint process and responded in early October 2024. It reiterated operational issues were causing localised disruption to the collection service and that residents should leave their bins out. The Council also again apologised for the disruption and difficulty caused.
21. Miss X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and has asked us to investigate her concerns. She is unhappy the Council has not resolved the situation and has not provided any advice other than to leave the bins out. Miss X has had to find ways to dispose of the recycling either through burning cardboard or trying to use friends and family’s bins. She says the recycling was only collected once in three months.
22. In response to my enquiries the Council says there are several reasons for the repeated failure to collect Miss X’s recycling over a sustained period. These include:
• In July 2024 the depot was restructuring the refuse and recycling rounds which impacted on the service. During the restructuring the depot found Miss X’s street was on a round that was not properly allocated a crew. It says this was fixed during the restructuring but there were some teething problems putting it in place
• Dropped rounds due to vehicle, staffing and other operational issues out of the Council’s control. The Council says that where a round is dropped it aims to collect the dropped collection before the next scheduled collection. However, this is not always possible.
• Miss X was awaiting a replacement pod so she did not have a designated place to put her paper and card. If Miss X mixed this with her other recycling material the crew would not empty her bin due to the contamination. Manufacturing issues meant there was a delay in delivering a replacement pod.
• Industrial action has caused a major disruption. The Council has hired agency staff to cover the round since January but they are held up leaving the depot each day so there is less time to complete the rounds.
23. The Council has a process for responding to and monitoring missed collections. It will check the property history to ensure it is not a repeated missed address. If there are repeated missed collections this will be raised with an Assistant Manager so that they can talk to the crew to find out the cause of the missed collections. The depot will also prepare a reminder for the crew pack provided to the crew for the next scheduled collection date. Where there is staff and vehicle availability the Assistant Manager will also schedule a crew to collect the missed collection.
24. The Council says this process is not currently taking place due to the industrial action. Monitoring will recommence when the industrial action has ended. However, the Council has added Miss X’s property to the depot’s Hotlist. This is handed out to the crew on the day of collection and provided the depot have enough crews to service this round Miss X’s property will be prioritised for collection.

Analysis

25. There is no dispute the Council has repeatedly failed to collect Miss X and her neighbours’ recycling since July 2024. These failings in service amount to fault.
26. The Council states Miss X has reported a total of six missed recycling collections, but I consider it likely the Council missed significantly more collections. Miss X’s complaints refer to missed collections not included on the Council’s log, including consecutive missed collections. In addition Miss X’s neighbours have reported additional missed collections which affect the whole street.
27. It is concerning that the Council appears to have closed the reports of missed collections when it had not collected the waste. Miss X complains about weeks and then months’ worth of uncollected recycling accumulating on the street following missed collections that had still not been made.
28. The current industrial action will inevitably have exacerbated the problem as recycling collections were suspended at the start of the year. The industrial action also means the Council cannot currently speak to the collection crews or take action to address the problem.
29. However, the problem of missed collections clearly predates any industrial action and I would have expected the Council to have identified the issue and taken action to address it sooner. The Council has a process for identifying and addressing recurring missed collections but it does not appear to have followed it in this instance. The number of missed collections reported by Miss X and her neighbours should have highlighted the problem and prompted the Council to take action.
30. I recognise the Council has operational difficulties with staffing issues and vehicle breakdowns, but this has been the case for a number of years. Given the apparent regularity with which Miss X’s road is dropped I would have expected the Council investigate why this road was particularly affected and take action to address this, both in the short and longer term.
31. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council responded to Miss X’s complaints. The stage 1 and stage 2 responses to Miss X’s complaints were almost identical. The generic nature of the Council’s responses suggests the Council had not properly investigated Miss X’s complaint or identified the anomalies in the restructuring of the routes.
32. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Miss X an injustice. As the missed collections affected the whole street Miss X has not only had to manage her own uncollected recycling, but she has also had to endure large amounts of uncollected waste on her street, over a sustained period of time.
33. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Miss X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.
34. I consider the Council should apologise and make a symbolic payment to recognise the injustice caused to Miss X.
35. Given the current industrial action is it not appropriate to make recommendations regarding service improvements.

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Action

36. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £250 to recognise the frustration, and difficulties the failure to make regular recycling collections over a sustained period has caused.
37. 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 in my findings.
38. The Council should take this action within eight weeks of the final decision on this complaint and provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

39. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to take actions to remedy injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman