Waste Collection Waterloo Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Waste Collection Waterloo collects, uses, stores and protects personal data belonging to our customers. It applies to all Waste Collection Waterloo customers within our service area, including residential, commercial and other account holders who interact with us by phone, email, online forms or in person.

We are committed to complying with the General Data Protection Regulation and all applicable data protection laws. This Privacy Policy is intended to provide clear and transparent information about our data processing activities and your associated rights.

Who We Are and How We Act as Data Controller

Waste Collection Waterloo is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. As data controller, we decide the purposes and means of processing personal information relating to our customers and prospective customers in our service area.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, you may contact us using the details provided on our main customer communications and account documentation.

Personal Data We Collect

We collect personal data necessary to provide waste collection and related services to our customers. The types of personal data we may collect include the following categories:

Identification and contact details, such as name, title, postal address, service address, email address, telephone number and preferred contact method.

Account and service information, such as customer account numbers, service type, collection schedules, property type, bin allocation details, service history and service-related correspondence.

Billing and payment information, such as invoicing address, payment status, payment method details and transaction records. Where required, we may process limited financial information to complete payments, although certain payment data may be handled directly by secure payment processors.

Communication records, such as records of telephone calls, emails, letters and online form submissions between you and Waste Collection Waterloo relating to service requests, complaints, feedback or enquiries.

Technical and usage data, such as information generated when you visit our online pages, including device information, basic log data and interaction with online forms, where applicable. We do not aim to identify you from this information unless it is necessary for a specific customer service purpose.

How We Collect Personal Data

We obtain personal data directly from you when you request waste collection services, open or manage an account, contact our customer service team, use our online forms or respond to our communications. We may also receive personal data from third parties where this is necessary to provide services, such as landlords, property managers, local authorities or commercial partners who arrange collection services on your behalf.

Lawful Basis for Processing

Waste Collection Waterloo processes personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the specific activity, we rely on the following lawful bases:

Performance of a contract. We process personal data to enter into and fulfil our obligations under contracts with customers for waste collection services. This includes setting up and managing accounts, scheduling collections, issuing invoices and handling service queries.

Compliance with legal obligations. We process personal data where necessary to comply with legal and regulatory duties, including obligations relating to environmental regulations, health and safety, financial reporting and record keeping.

Legitimate interests. We process certain data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include service improvement, handling complaints, preventing fraud, ensuring network and information security and managing business operations.

Consent. In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain forms of direct marketing or optional service updates not required for the performance of your contract. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time using the contact details made available to you.

How We Use Personal Data

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:

To provide and administer waste collection and related services to our customers in our service area, including booking services, assigning routes, coordinating collections and responding to service requests.

To manage billing and payments, including issuing invoices, processing payments, handling direct debits, managing arrears and dealing with billing queries.

To communicate with you regarding your account, including service updates, changes to collection schedules, notices about service disruptions and responses to your enquiries.

To manage our relationship with customers, including addressing complaints, resolving disputes, recording customer feedback and carrying out satisfaction monitoring where appropriate.

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, including reporting requirements and cooperation with competent authorities when lawfully requested.

To maintain and improve our services, systems and processes, including monitoring service usage, enhancing operational efficiency and planning future capacity.

Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with carefully selected third parties where this is necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and where appropriate safeguards are in place.

Service providers acting as data processors. These may include customer management system providers, IT hosting and maintenance companies, payment processors, call handling services and document storage providers. These processors are only permitted to process personal data on our instructions and must implement appropriate security measures.

Professional advisers. We may share limited personal data with legal advisers, auditors and consultants where necessary for the protection of our legal rights, regulatory compliance or business operations.

Authorities and regulators. Where we are under a legal obligation or have a lawful basis, we may share personal data with governmental, regulatory or law enforcement bodies.

We do not sell personal data to third parties. If we ever intend to engage in new forms of data sharing that are not covered in this Privacy Policy, we will provide you with appropriate information and, where required, seek your consent.

International Transfers

Where we use service providers that process personal data outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent mechanisms recognised by data protection law, to protect your personal data.

Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of providing services, meeting legal, accounting or reporting requirements and resolving disputes.

Customer account and service information is generally retained for the duration of your relationship with Waste Collection Waterloo and for a reasonable period afterwards to deal with any subsequent queries, complaints or legal issues. Billing and transaction records are typically retained for the period required by applicable financial and tax legislation.

Where personal data is no longer needed, we will securely delete, anonymise or otherwise remove it from our systems in line with our data retention policies.

Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include access controls, secure storage, regular system monitoring and staff training on data protection responsibilities.

While no system can be completely secure, we work to ensure that our security measures are appropriate to the nature of the data we process and the risks associated with our activities.

Your Data Protection Rights

As a customer of Waste Collection Waterloo within our service area, you have a number of rights in relation to the personal data we hold about you, subject to certain legal conditions and exemptions.

Right of access. You have the right to request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to obtain a copy of that data, together with certain information about how it is used.

Right to rectification. You have the right to request that we correct or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

Right to erasure. In certain circumstances, you may request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or where you withdraw consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

Right to restriction of processing. You may request that we restrict our processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we investigate a concern about accuracy or a pending objection.

Right to object. You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, including profiling based on those interests, and we will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights and freedoms.

Right to data portability. Where processing is based on consent or on a contract and carried out by automated means, you may have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to transmit it to another controller.

Right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal, but may affect the services we are able to provide.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe that your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can seek to resolve any concerns directly.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations or data processing practices. Any significant changes will be communicated through our usual customer communication channels or made available with the updated effective date. Your continued use of our services after any changes indicates your acknowledgement of the updated Privacy Policy.