Waste Removal Merton Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Waste Removal Merton collects, uses, stores and shares personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers in our service area. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your information in a transparent and lawful way in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

By using our waste removal services, contacting us, or visiting our website, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy and understand how and why we process your personal data.

Who We Are

Waste Removal Merton is a waste collection and disposal service provider operating in the Merton area and surrounding locations. For the purposes of data protection law, we are the data controller in relation to the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed.

Scope Of This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all individual customers, prospective customers and website visitors of Waste Removal Merton within our service area. It covers personal data we collect through our website, over the phone, by email, in person and through any other communication channels we use to provide our services.

Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:

Identification and contact details: name, address, email address, telephone number, and any other contact information you provide when you make an enquiry or a booking.

Service information: details of the waste removal services you request or receive, such as collection address, access information, type and volume of waste, preferred dates and times, and any instructions you provide in relation to the service.

Communication data: records of communications between you and Waste Removal Merton, including emails, phone calls, text messages and any other form of correspondence.

Payment and billing data: payment method information such as partial card details processed through our payment processor, records of invoices, amounts paid, dates of payment, and related financial details necessary to process your payment. Full card data is not stored by us when this is handled by a secure payment processor.

Technical and usage data: limited technical data when you visit our website, such as your IP address, browser type, device type, and information on how you interact with our website, collected through standard server logs and similar technologies.

Lawful Bases For Processing

We only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the context, we rely on the following lawful bases:

Performance of a contract: to enter into and perform our contract with you for waste removal services, including managing bookings, providing collections, issuing invoices, and handling service-related communications.

Legitimate interests: to pursue our legitimate business interests, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing our relationship with you, responding to enquiries, improving our services, maintaining business records, and exercising or defending legal claims.

Compliance with a legal obligation: to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, such as tax, accounting and waste management regulations, and to respond to lawful requests from public authorities.

Consent: in limited cases where required by law, such as sending certain types of marketing communications, we will rely on your consent. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide our services: handling booking requests, arranging waste collections, managing access instructions, and fulfilling our contractual obligations to you.

Customer service and communication: responding to your enquiries, sending booking confirmations, informing you about service changes, rescheduling requests, and handling complaints or feedback.

Billing and payments: issuing invoices, processing payments via our payment processors, resolving billing queries, and keeping appropriate financial records.

Business administration: maintaining internal records, managing our operations, training staff, and ensuring the quality and safety of our services.

Legal and regulatory compliance: maintaining records required by law, complying with environmental and waste regulations, and cooperating with law enforcement or regulatory authorities when legally required.

Security and fraud prevention: protecting our business, customers and systems against fraud, misuse or unlawful activities.

Data Sharing And Processors

We do not sell your personal data. However, we may share your data with selected third parties who help us provide our services and run our business. These parties act as data processors on our behalf and are only permitted to use your personal data according to our instructions and for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

These processors may include:

Payment service providers that process your card payments securely and handle payment verification.

IT and hosting providers that supply our website hosting, email, and business software so that we can manage bookings, communications and records.

Customer support and communication tools that assist us in sending service notifications and managing customer enquiries.

Professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers where this is necessary for our legitimate interests and legal obligations.

We may also share personal data with public authorities, regulators, law enforcement agencies or courts where we are legally required to do so or where sharing is necessary to protect our rights, property or safety, or that of our customers or others.

International Data Transfers

Where our service providers are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we take steps to ensure that your personal data receives an equivalent level of protection. This may include using data transfer mechanisms approved under applicable data protection laws or entering into contracts that include appropriate safeguards for your data.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including meeting any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

In general, we keep customer and service records for a period that allows us to manage ongoing services, handle any disputes or queries, and comply with statutory retention periods. After this period, we either securely delete or anonymise your personal data so that it can no longer be linked to you.

The exact retention period may vary depending on the type of data and the applicable legal requirements. You may contact us if you would like more detail about how long we retain specific categories of personal data.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights apply to all Waste Removal Merton customers and individuals in our service area, subject to certain legal limitations and exemptions.

Right of access: you can request confirmation that we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you.

Right to rectification: you can request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data. This is not an absolute right and may not apply where we are required to keep the information by law or for legitimate business reasons.

Right to restrict processing: you can request that we restrict our processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example while we verify its accuracy or assess an objection you have raised.

Right to object: you can object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests, including any direct marketing. We will stop processing your data for such purposes unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is needed for legal claims.

Right to data portability: where processing is based on consent or a contract and carried out by automated means, you can request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, or that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you can withdraw your consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided on our website or in your service documentation. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request. We aim to respond without undue delay and within the timescales required by law.

Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include access controls, secure storage and regular review of our security procedures. While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, no system can be completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Updates To This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, our data processing practices or applicable law. Any updated version will be made available through our usual communication channels. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we handle your personal data.