Summary: Mr and Mrs X complain that although they should receive assisted collections, the Council has repeatedly failed to collect their recycling on the scheduled day and when their recycling is collected, the collection crew do not return their bin to their property. The failings in the assisted collection service the Council provided to Mr and Mrs X amount to fault. This fault has caused Mr and Mrs X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainants, whom I shall refer to as Mr and Mrs X complain the Council has repeatedly failed to collect their recycling on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when collections are missed. Mr and Mrs X receive assisted collections and complain that when their recycling is collected, the collection crew do not return their bin to their property.
2. Mr and Mrs X also complain the collection crew opened a bag of shredded paper they had left to be recycled and emptied the contents on the street rather than take it away

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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. If we are satisfied with a council’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. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr and Mrs X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Mr X;
• sent a statement setting out my draft decision to Mr and Mrs X and the Council and invited their comments.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

6. 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 and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
8. The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who are unable to move their bins and boxes due to a disability or age. The Council should collect the bins from the storage point and return them to the same point.
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.

What I found

10. Mr and Mrs X state the Council has not provided the agreed assisted collection service in respect of their recycling. There are no issues with the household waste collections, but the they state the recycling crews do not routinely collect their bin. If the crew does empty their bin, they do not return it to the front of Mr and Mrs X’s property. Mr and Mrs X state they try to move the bin part way up their drive to be collected but cannot take it the full way. They are also unable to move the bin back if it is left on the street after collection and rely on their neighbours for assistance.
11. The Council states its records show Mr and Mrs X only reported one missed collection in 2019. This was on 19 September 2019 and the Council closed the report on 4 October 2019, the day after the next scheduled collection date.
12. Mr and Mrs X have also made formal complaints to the Council which suggest there was more than this one missed collection. On 5 September 2019 Mr and Mrs X complained that rather than take a bag of shredded paper the crew opened the bag and left it on the street. This meant the shredded paper blew all over the street and they had to ask a visitor to collect it. Mr and Mrs X also complained that prior to this collection, the Council had not collected their recycling for a month and did not always put their bin back.
13. The Council apologised for the poor service and confirmed the Service Manager had reminded the crew to collect Mr and Mrs X’s bins and to return them to the storage point.
14. Mr and Mrs X contacted the Council again on 3 October 2019 to complain the Council had not collected their recycling for several weeks. Although the Council had emptied their bin that day, the crew had not returned it and a neighbour had brought it back for them. The Council treated this as a separate complaint.
15. On 17 October 2019 Mr and Mrs X asked for their complaint to be considered further. They said that in the month since the Council had responded to their initial complaint, they had not received assisted collections. The crews were not returning their bins and had that day, left the bin directly behind their car.
16. In its response the Council said the complaint had been passed to a manager who would speak to the crew. It also advised the recycling crews did not have time to split bags and dispose of them separately. It suggested Mr and Mrs X put and shredded paper in a cardboard box in or alongside their bin or dispose of it with their household waste.
17. The Council also responded to Mr and Mrs X’s complaint of 3 October 2019. It apologised and confirmed the Service manager had spoken to the crew.
18. Mr X contacted the Council again on 14 November 2019 to report that the recycling crew had not returned their bin again. This had happened many times and he asked the Council to look into it. There is no record of how the Council responded to this contact, or what action it took.
19. As the problems continued, Mr X asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. In response to my enquiries the Council states it runs an assisted collection report at the start of each month with an updated list of all assisted collections. It then manually adds properties to each depot’s hard drive so they can print off and add this to crew information packs. Assisted collection properties also appear on the crew’s mobile technology. It has confirmed that Mr and Mrs X have assisted collection status.
20. The Council does not consider there is sufficient evidence of a repeated failure to collect assisted recycling from Mr and Mrs X’s property. It has however arranged to monitor Mr and Mrs X’s recycling collections for three months. This should identify any root causes and provide a resolution.

Analysis

21. The Council’s records show Mr and Mrs X only reported one missed collection in 2019, and there are no records they repeatedly reported a problem with the assisted collections. But I do not consider this means the service was working as it should. Mr and Mrs X’s complaints refer to repeated missed collections and the crews not returning their bin. The Council’s responses to these complaints do not dispute the missed collections or that the crews were not returning their bins. Instead they apologised for the poor service and assured them it would improve. Despite assurances it had reminded the crew members the service did not improve, and Mr and Mrs X’s bin was still not routinely returned.
22. Based on the documentation I have received I consider there have been repeated failings in the Council’s assisted collection service which amount to fault.
23. The Council has confirmed Mr and Mrs X are registered for assisted collections and this should be recorded on mobile technology within the collection vehicles and in the crew packs. It is therefore unclear why their recycling bin is routinely left on the street rather than returned to their property when they are emptied. Particularly as there are no issues with the assisted household waste collection.
24. I recognise the Council has now arranged a period of monitoring and would expect this to lead to an improvement in service.
25. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mr and Mrs X an injustice. Mr and Mrs X have had to find ways to manage the uncollected recycling left at their property and have had to rely on other people to return their bin after collection. They have also been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

26. The Council apologised to Mr and Mrs X and paid them £100 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections has caused.

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Final decision

27. Subject to further comments by Mr and Mrs X and the Council, I intend to complete my investigation on the basis the failings in the assisted collection service the Council provided to Mr and Mrs X amount to fault. This fault has caused Mr and Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman