Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council damaging her garden waste bin and refusing to replace it free of charge. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and any injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council damaged her garden waste bin during a bin collection and refused to replace the bin unless she paid a subscription fee. Ms X said she has missed bin collections due to not having a bin and has injured herself by disposing of her garden waste herself. She wants the Council to give her a new bin.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In October 2024, the Council introduced a subscription fee in relation to the garden waste bin. The charge covers waste collection and bin replacements.
6. In September 2024, Ms X contacted the Council and said the bin collection team had damaged her garden waste bin during a collection in August 2024. She wanted the Council to provide her with a free replacement bin. The Council responded to Ms X and said it would only be able to provide her with a replacement bin once she had subscribed to its new waste collection service.
7. Ms X complained to the Council and said the Council had damaged her bin before it had introduced the new charging policy and so she should not have to pay for a new bin. She also said she had injured herself by attempting to dispose of her own garden waste. She asked the Council again for a new bin.
8. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint and said:
• since August 2024, it suspended the possibility of residents being able to order a replacement bin as the payment window for the subscription fee was to start at the beginning of September 2024. The Council did not want residents to order new bins if they were not going to subscribe to the service as it would not be cost effective;
• it would be happy to provide Ms X with a replacement bin once she subscribed to the service. If Ms X chose not to subscribe, she had the option of buying her own bin. It did not by law, need to provide Ms X with a bin; and
• it had considered Ms X’s concerns about her injury, however, there was no supporting evidence which suggested the injury was caused by the lack of a bin.
9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council. There is no supporting evidence to say the Council damaged Ms X’s bin during a bin collection. Furthermore, under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, councils can charge residents for its garden waste collection service which extends to replacing bins. In any case, any injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and any injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman