Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about refuse workers emptying the contents of her neighbour’s bin into her own bin before they are being emptied. This is because we do not consider Miss X has not suffered a significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains that refuse workers have repeatedly placed other people’s waste into her bins, before emptying them into the recycling truck, which she says causes hygiene concerns. She also says the Council delayed and poorly handled her complaint as well as sharing her information with its contractor without her permission. She seeks an apology, a new bin, and compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council acknowledged Miss X’s complaint and liaised with its contractor, reminding staff of the correct procedures for refuse collection. It apologised but did not offer compensation, instead referring the request to the contractor’s insurers, in line with its policy.
7. We do not investigate all complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. While I understand Miss X is unhappy that refuse collectors have placed rubbish into her bin before emptying it, we do not consider the issues raised have caused a significant injustice The Council has acknowledged the issue, apologised, and taken steps to remind its contractor of the correct procedures. We consider this to be a proportionate response to the complaint.
9. The Council confirmed that new bins were delivered to Miss X’s address in October 2025; however, as Miss X states she did not receive them, she will need to follow this up directly with the Council.
10. Miss X also complains the Council delayed responding to her complaints about this matter We will not investigate this part of Miss X’s complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we decide not to investigate the substantive issue.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we do not consider it has caused her a significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman