Summary: Mrs X complained the Council continually failed to collect her green waste bin. We find the Council at fault for missed collections and not monitoring the collections as it said it would, causing avoidable inconvenience and frustration to Mrs X. We recommend the Council apologises and reviews its collection monitoring procedures.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council continually fails to collect her green waste bin.
2. She says having to make repeated complaints is inconvenient and draining, and she has to dispose of her own waste at a local tip.

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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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. When considering complaints, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
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(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
7. Mrs X says these issues have been ongoing since 2023. These are therefore late complaints. There are no good reasons to investigate them now. I have decided to investigate matters since the issue of the Council’s previous complaint response in October 2024.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
9. Mrs X and the 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

Legislation and guidance

Household waste and recycling collections

10. 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.

The Council’s waste collection procedure

11. The Council carries out collections for refuse waste itself. These collections take place fortnightly.
12. If a bin has not been collected, a resident should receive a bin tag of the reasons why. If there is no bin tag, a resident is required to wait until five pm on the day of collection before it submits a report, in case the crew return to collect the bin.
13. To report a missed bin, residents can submit an online form to notify the Council within 48 hours of the missed collection.

What happened

14. Mrs X complained the Council repeatedly failed to collect her green waste bin, despite her reporting the missed collections over a long period of time.
15. In October 2024, Mrs X made a formal complaint. In response, the Council acknowledged there had been problems accessing the collection point. It assured Mrs X it would take steps to address and monitor the issue. It said it had carried out a site visit, referred the address to a narrow vehicle team, and asked the relevant supervisor to monitor future collections. It also told crews to take photos whenever they could not collect the bin.
16. Mrs X said the service improved at first after she was given a direct contact to report problems. However, she says she later stopped receiving replies. She estimates there have been around six to ten missed collections in total.
17. The Council’s records show only three missed collections since the stage two complaint, in January, February and May 2025.
18. In May, Mrs X made a new complaint to the Council, saying her bin had not been collected for two months. The Council said the issue had already been addressed at stage two and advised her to contact the Ombudsman.
19. Mrs X then brought her complaint to us in late May.
20. In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed it had no records of supervisor monitoring. It also said that collection crews are unable to take photographs when they are unable to access the bins.
21. The Council told us it is reviewing how it monitors collections and plans to introduce an electronic system for recording this in the waste department.

My findings

Green bin collections

22. I cannot determine whether Mrs X’s bin went uncollected for two months as she reports. However, the evidence shows at least three missed collections after her October complaint. Councils are expected to provide a regular waste collection service and to respond appropriately to reports of missed collections. Despite Mrs X’s earlier complaints and the Council’s assurances of closer monitoring, the problem continued. The repeated missed collections were fault.
23. The Council also failed to keep records of what action it took after each report of a missed collection. This was fault. The lack of records means we cannot know what action, if any, the Council took in response to Mrs X’s reports or to conclusively say what impact the missed collections had on Mrs X. We do however know this caused her frustration and inconvenience.
24. The Council has recognised the need to improve how it records waste collection monitoring and says it plans to introduce an electronic recording system. I have made a service improvement recommendation below to reflect this.

Council actions following complaint response

25. The Council has since acknowledged that crews are unable to take photographs and that there are no records of any monitoring by a supervisor and no records of direct calls by Mrs X. It should not have committed to actions it could not carry out. This was fault.
26. Although I cannot say whether proper monitoring would have prevented further missed collections, the Council’s failure to deliver the agreed checks contributed to Mrs X’s continuing frustration and inconvenience

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Action

27. To remedy the injustice by the above faults, within four weeks of the date of my final decision, the Council should apologise to Mrs X in line with our guidance on Making an effective apology.
28. Within three months of my final decision, the Council should consider what changes are necessary to ensure it keeps a complete and accurate record of all missed collections and recording how it responds to them.
29. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman