Summary: Miss X complained the Council has failed to provide a replacement pod for her recycling wheelie bin despite her repeated requests. Without the pod Miss X is unable to present paper and cardboard with the rest of her recycling. The Council’s significant delay in providing a replacement pod to enable Miss X to recycle her paper and cardboard waste is fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X complained the Council has failed to provide a replacement pod for her recycling wheelie bin despite her repeated requests. Without the pod Miss X is unable to present paper and cardboard with the rest of her recycling.

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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 an injustice, 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(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Miss X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• Miss 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

Refuse and recycling collections

5. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to arrange for the collection of 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.
6. The Council provides a wheelie bin for recycling and requires plastic and metal to be placed in the main bin. Paper and cardboard are to be presented in the removable plastic pod which sits in the top of the bin. The Council’s website confirms that if residents have too much cardboard and paper to fit in the pod, they can place it in a neat pile next to the bin for collection or put it in a cardboard box to keep it tidy.

What happened here

7. Miss X says the collection crew mistakenly threw her pod into the collection vehicle with her recycling. Having made several unsuccessful requests for a replacement pod Miss X made a formal complaint to the Council in August 2022. The Council apologised for the delay in delivering a replacement pod and confirmed it aimed to deliver replacements within 21 days. The Council asked Miss X to let it know if she did not receive a pod.
8. Miss X chased the Council for a replacement pod in September and again in November 2022. As she had still not received a replacement pod she asked the Council to escalate her complaint. The Council reviewed the complaint and wrote to Miss X in January 2023. It again apologised for the inconvenience and said its records showed it delivered a replacement pod on 8 September 2022. This would have been left in Miss X’s garden. The Council confirmed it had ordered another replacement which would be delivered to Miss X’s front door as soon as possible.
9. As Miss X had still not received a replacement pod in February 2023 she asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. Miss X says her garden is secure and she has CCTV cameras which show that nothing was left in her garden on 8 September 2022 or at any other time.
10. So that she could still recycle while waiting for a replacement pod, Miss X says she would bag up her paper waste and leave it for collection next to the bin as advised by the Council. But the collection crews did not take it and the paper ended up all over her road. Miss X says she then had to clear the road as it became an eyesore and her neighbours complained. As a result Miss X stopped recycling her paper and cardboard waste.
11. In response to my enquiries the Council has confirmed it delivered a replacement pod to Miss X on 17 April 2023. It says replacement pods are usually delivered within two weeks but its Stores have had a number of supply issues over the past year which has led to delays. It has provided records of its pod deliveries which show it delivered replacement pods to Miss X on 3 and 30 August 2022 and 17 April 2023.

Analysis

12. As the Council requires residents to recycle waste in a particular way it should ensure they have the correct bins, boxes, and pods. The Council told Miss X it delivered a replacement pod in September 2022 but this is not recorded on its records, which instead show it delivered replacement pods twice in August 2022. If the Council had delivered replacement pods in August 2022 Miss X would not have needed to make a formal complaint and the Council could have referred to this in its complaint correspondence.
13. Given these inconsistencies I am not persuaded the Council’s records are accurate or reliable. Miss X has confirmed the Council delivered a replacement pod on 17 April 2023, some 10 months after she first requested a replacement. The delivery of a replacement pod appears to have been prompted by this investigation and it is a concern that there may have been further delay but for our involvement.
14. The significant delay in providing Miss X with a replacement pod amounts to fault. It has meant that Miss X has been unable to effectively recycling paper or cardboard for an unnecessarily extended period.
15. The replacement pod means Miss X is now able to recycle her paper waste again, which is of course to be welcomed. But I do not consider it fully resolves her complaint. Miss X experienced frustration and disappointment that despite her repeated requests she did not receive a replacement pod and that her paper and cardboard recycling was not collected for many months. She has also been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

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Agreed action

16. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £100 in recognition of the frustration, difficulties the significant delay in providing a replacement pod and collecting her paper and cardboard recycling has caused.
17. The Council has also agreed to review the way it responds to requests for replacement pods. This should include how/ where it delivers replacement pods, and its communication with residents to ensure they are informed of any delays and the location of their new pod.
18. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint and should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

19. The Council’s significant delay in providing a replacement pod to enable Miss X to recycle her paper and cardboard waste is fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman