Privacy Policy for Waste Collection Bermondsey Customers

This Privacy Policy explains how Waste Collection Bermondsey collects, uses, stores and protects personal data about its customers in the Bermondsey area. It also explains the lawful basis for our processing activities, how long we keep personal data, when we use third party processors, and the rights you have under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection laws.

Scope and who this policy applies to

This Privacy Policy applies to all Waste Collection Bermondsey customers and prospective customers located in the Bermondsey area who use, request or enquire about our waste collection and related services. It covers personal data collected through our website, by telephone, email, messaging services, in person, and via any other communication channels we use to provide and manage our services.

Data controller details

Waste Collection Bermondsey is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. As data controller, we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data and are responsible for ensuring that our processing complies with applicable data protection law.

Personal data we collect

We collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us and the services you use. The categories of data we commonly collect include:

Identification and contact details, such as your name, address, email address, telephone number and, where relevant, business contact information. Service and booking information, such as property type, waste collection requirements, preferred collection dates and times, access instructions and notes you provide about the service. Payment and billing data, such as billing address, payment method details and records of payments made and amounts owed. Operational and communication data, such as call records, emails, messages, job logs, collection history and customer service notes. Technical data, such as basic information from your device or browser when you visit our website, including IP address, browser type, general location information and pages viewed, where this is required for security, performance or analytics purposes.

We do not intentionally collect special category data such as health information or data relating to race, religion or other sensitive categories. We ask that you do not provide such information to us unless it is strictly necessary for the service and you understand that we will process it in line with this Privacy Policy.

How we collect personal data

We collect personal data from you directly when you contact us to request a quote, make a booking, ask a question or update your details. This can be done by phone, email, through our website forms or in person. We may also collect data automatically when you visit our website, through the use of cookies and similar technologies, for security, performance and analytics. In addition, we may receive personal data from third parties where this is needed to provide our services, for example from managing agents, landlords or business partners who arrange waste collection on your behalf. In such cases we take reasonable steps to ensure that those third parties have a lawful basis to share your information with us.

Lawful bases for processing your data

We only process personal data where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the context, our lawful basis will usually be one or more of the following:

Contract: we process personal data to enter into and perform contracts with you, including to provide waste collection services, handle bookings, manage accounts and process payments. Legal obligation: we process personal data where required to comply with our legal obligations, such as record keeping for tax and accounting purposes or responding to lawful requests from authorities. Legitimate interests: we process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and these are not overridden by your rights and interests. This includes managing and improving our services, ensuring security, recovering debts, handling customer queries, and analysing service performance. Consent: in limited circumstances we may rely on your consent, for example for specific marketing communications where consent is required. When we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time using the contact details provided in this policy.

How we use personal data

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

To provide our waste collection and related services, including scheduling collections, accessing your property to collect waste, and dealing with any queries or issues. To manage our relationship with you, including handling bookings and cancellations, invoicing, processing payments, providing service updates and responding to customer service requests. To operate, maintain and improve our business, including monitoring service quality, planning routes and resources, training staff and analysing service usage. To meet our legal and regulatory obligations, such as maintaining appropriate records and cooperating with authorities where required. To carry out marketing and communications, such as informing you of service updates, offers or changes in our terms, where permitted by law and your preferences. You can opt out of marketing at any time.

Data retention and storage

We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. In general, we keep core customer records, such as contract and billing information, for as long as you are a customer and for a reasonable period afterwards, commonly up to six years, to address any disputes or legal obligations. Operational data, such as job logs and service notes, may be kept for shorter periods where appropriate. When personal data is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymise it so that it can no longer be associated with you.

Data processors and third party sharing

We use trusted third party service providers, acting as data processors, to help us deliver and manage our services. These processors may provide services such as payment processing, IT hosting, customer relationship management, communications tools and analytics. When we use processors, we only share the personal data that is necessary for them to perform their services, and we ensure that they are bound by contracts requiring them to protect your data, use it only on our instructions and apply appropriate security measures.

We may also share personal data with other third parties in specific circumstances, such as professional advisers, insurers, debt collection agencies, and regulatory or law enforcement authorities where required by law or to protect our rights, property or safety or that of our customers or others. We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

International transfers

If we transfer personal data outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as using standard contractual clauses or other mechanisms approved under data protection law, to provide a similar level of protection for your personal data.

Security of your personal data

We take the security of your personal data seriously and use organisational and technical measures designed to protect it against unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure. These measures include access controls, staff training, secure storage, and appropriate procedures for dealing with suspected data breaches. While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, no system can be completely secure, and you should also take care to protect your own information when communicating with us.

Your data protection rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights under data protection law in relation to the personal data we hold about you. Subject to legal conditions and exemptions, these rights include:

The right of access, which allows you to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and information about how we process it. The right to rectification, which allows you to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data. The right to erasure, sometimes called the right to be forgotten, which allows you to request the deletion of personal data where there is no longer a lawful basis for us to keep it. The right to restriction of processing, which allows you to ask us to limit the way we use your data in certain circumstances. The right to data portability, which allows you to receive certain personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to have it transmitted to another controller where technically feasible. The right to object, which allows you to object to processing based on our legitimate interests and to object at any time to direct marketing. The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, where that decision has legal or similarly significant effects on you.

You can exercise your rights by contacting us using the contact details in this Privacy Policy. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.

Complaints and contact information

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, how we handle your personal data, or if you wish to exercise your rights, you can contact us using our usual customer contact channels. We will do our best to respond promptly and to resolve any concerns.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to address your 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 how we process personal data. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your data.