Summary: Mr X complained the Council missed recycling collections. He said this inconvenienced him and caused hygiene concerns. We have completed our investigation. There is no evidence of fault since our previous investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council missed multiple recycling collections since August 2023. He says he had to store recycling waste in his property and was impacted by having to report missed collections to the Council. He says the Council’s two-day deadline for reporting missed collections is unrealistic and means he has to keep recycled waste in his home when he is too late to report a missed collection.

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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. 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)
3. 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)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(1)(A) and 25(7), as amended).
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I read Mr X’s complaint and spoke to him about it on the phone.
7. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background Information

9. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly. Councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
10. The Council uses a contractor to provide waste services. However, the Council retains responsibility for ensuring the quality of the service and is accountable if things go wrong.
11. The Council has a weekly recycling collection.
12. Missed recycling collections can be reported to the Council using a webform on the Council’s website. Missed collections must be reported within two working days. Any missed collection reported more than two working days after the usual collection day will be collected the following week.

What happened

13. This is a summary of events, outlining key facts and does not cover everything that has occurred in this case.
14. Mr X first complained to the Council about missed bin collections in October 2023. The Council responded to Mr X in November 2023 and said it had taken action to collect the bins, clear the mess and monitor collections for four weeks.
15. Mr X complained again in November 2024. He complained the Council had missed 15 bin collections since October 2023.
16. The Council response in January 2025 upheld the complaint. The Council apologised to Mr X and said it was putting measures in place to resolve the problem.
17. Mr X made a complaint to the Ombudsman in November 2024. We did not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s actions and response from 2023. This was a late complaint and there was no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate the concerns. We decided not to investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s actions and response to his November 2024 complaint because we could not add to the Council’s investigation or achieve a different outcome. We issued our decision in February 2025.
18. In March 2025 Mr X made a new complaint to the Council. He said there had been another missed collection.
19. In June 2025, the Council’s final complaint response partially upheld Mr X’s complaint. It apologised to Mr X for the issues he had faced with missed collections and said it had carried out further monitoring and made changes in collection days to improve reliability. The Council said the last logged missed collection was December 2024. It stated residents should report missed collections using the online reporting form.
20. Mr X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and asked the Ombudsman to investigate. Mr X would like the Council to act to prevent more missed collections, provide bigger communal bins and pay compensation for the disruption caused to him.
21. In response to our enquiries, the Council said there had been no missed collections reported at Mr X’s address via the Council’s webform since January 2025.

My findings

22. The Ombudsman’s decision in February 2025 for Mr X’s previous complaint said:

“I appreciate Mr X remains unhappy, but an investigation would not add anything further or achieve a different outcome. The Council took prompt action when Mr X complained again in November 2024. It apologised and issued a detailed response with clear proposed actions. I am satisfied the Council’s actions remedies the injustice caused by any fault. Therefore, I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint.”

23. Since the Ombudsman’s previous investigation, the Council has received no reports of missed collections at Mr X’s address on its system. Mr X said he may have reported two missed collections via the Council’s system since January 2025. The Council has no record of Mr X doing so.
24. The February 2025 decision confirmed the Council was taking action to correct the problem. The Council has no record of any missed collections since that decision. Mr X says there may have been up to five missed collections since January 2025, but he was not certain. There is no evidence of missed collections. This investigation has considered the Council’s actions since the previous Ombudsman decision, February 2025. There is no evidence of fault by the Council.
25. Mr X says it is unrealistic for residents with communal bins to report missed collections within two days. It is reasonable for the Council to expect residents to report missed collections within two days. I would expect a resident to report missed collections via the Council’s system. The Council should record missed collections and take action. The previous investigation confirmed the Council did act after residents reported issues. The Council is not at fault.

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Decision

26. I have completed my investigation. There is no evidence of fault since the Ombudsman’s previous investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman