Waste Collection Lewisham Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Waste Collection Lewisham collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data. It applies to all Waste Collection Lewisham customers receiving waste collection, recycling, or related services within the Lewisham area. We are committed to handling your information fairly, lawfully, and transparently in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act.

Who We Are

Waste Collection Lewisham is the organisation responsible for providing household and commercial waste collection, recycling, and associated services in Lewisham. For the purposes of data protection law, Waste Collection Lewisham is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed.

Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for us to provide and manage waste collection and related services. The types of information we may collect include:

Your contact details, such as name, address, email address, and telephone number, when you set up or manage a waste collection service or contact us with an enquiry.

Your property and service information, such as service address, type of property, collection schedule, bin type and size, and records of missed collections or reported issues.

Account and correspondence information, including records of your communications with us by phone, email, online forms, or post, and notes of any complaints, enquiries, requests or feedback.

Payment and billing information for chargeable services, such as commercial waste collections, bulky waste collections or additional services, including payment method and basic transaction details. We do not store full payment card details.

Technical and usage data, such as basic information generated when you visit our website or use our online services, including your IP address, device and browser details, and pages accessed, where this is necessary to secure and operate our services.

Special category data is only collected where it is strictly necessary, for example information about mobility issues or health-related needs relevant to assisted collections. This type of data is handled with extra care and stronger protections.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data in several ways:

Directly from you when you register for waste collection or related services, request a new bin, book a bulky waste collection, submit a complaint, make a payment, or contact us by phone, email, online form, or post.

From our service delivery activities, such as when our collection teams record information about missed collections, contamination issues, or bin availability at your property.

From third parties acting on your behalf, such as a landlord, managing agent, or family member who makes a service request or enquiry in relation to your property or account, where this is lawful and appropriate.

From public or official sources where relevant, for example address data used to confirm service eligibility or property type.

Lawful Basis For Processing

We only use your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so. The lawful bases we rely on include:

Public task. Much of our processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority, such as the provision of statutory household waste collection and recycling services.

Contract. Where you enter into a contract with us for chargeable waste services, such as commercial waste or additional collections, we process your data as necessary to set up, administer, and deliver that contract, and to manage billing and payments.

Legal obligation. We may process your information where this is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, for example to keep certain records for tax or regulatory purposes or to cooperate with law enforcement where required by law.

Legitimate interests. In some cases we rely on our legitimate interests, or those of a third party, provided these are not overridden by your rights and interests. This may include improving our services, investigating complaints, preventing fraud or misuse of services, and ensuring the security and integrity of our systems.

Consent. Where required, we will seek your consent, for example for certain types of optional communications. You can withdraw your consent at any time, although this will not affect processing that has already taken place.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide and manage household and commercial waste collection, recycling, and related services, including scheduling and carrying out collections, managing assisted collections, and handling service requests.

To respond to your enquiries, complaints, and requests, to provide customer support, and to keep accurate records of our interactions with you.

To issue invoices, process payments for chargeable services, and manage any refunds or debt recovery where appropriate and lawful.

To monitor service performance, improve our operations, plan routes, and develop or adjust services, including analysing anonymised or aggregated data where possible.

To ensure compliance with our legal and regulatory responsibilities, including environmental, health and safety, and financial reporting requirements.

To protect our services, staff, and the public, for example by investigating misuse, fraud, or abusive behaviour, and by ensuring the security of our systems and premises.

Data Retention

We keep your personal data only for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected, and to meet any legal, regulatory, or reporting requirements. Retention periods vary depending on the type of data and the nature of our relationship with you.

Service records linked to your property and collections are generally retained for as long as you continue to receive waste services and for a period afterwards to allow us to answer queries and manage any disputes.

Financial and transaction records relating to chargeable services are kept for the period required by law for tax and accounting purposes.

Correspondence and complaint records are kept for a reasonable period after resolution to help us monitor service quality and to handle any follow up issues.

Where data is no longer required, we securely delete, anonymise, or destroy it in line with our data retention policies.

Data Sharing And Processors

We may share your personal data with selected third parties where this is necessary, lawful, and subject to appropriate safeguards. These third parties may act as data processors on our behalf, following our instructions, or as separate data controllers where they determine their own purposes and means of processing.

Typical data recipients include:

Service delivery partners and contractors who help provide waste collection, recycling, bin delivery, maintenance, and related services.

IT and system providers who supply and support our booking, customer management, payment processing, and communication systems.

Payment service providers who process card or online payments for chargeable services on our behalf.

Professional advisers such as auditors, insurers, or legal advisers where required for governance, risk management, or to handle legal claims.

Regulators, public authorities, or law enforcement agencies where we are legally obliged to share information or where it is necessary to protect the public or our staff.

We do not sell your personal data. Whenever we use data processors, we ensure they are bound by written contracts requiring them to keep your data secure, use it only for our specified purposes, and comply with data protection law.

International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom, for example when an IT provider hosts data in another country, we ensure that suitable safeguards are in place. These may include the use of approved standard contractual clauses or ensuring that the destination country has been recognised as providing an adequate level of data protection.

Your Data Protection Rights

As a Waste Collection Lewisham customer in the Lewisham area, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions in law. These rights include:

The right of access. You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with information about how it is used.

The right to rectification. You can ask us to correct or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

The right to erasure. In some circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the original purpose and we have no legal reason to keep it.

The right to restrict processing. You can request that we limit how we use your data in certain situations, such as while we are considering a request to rectify or erase your data.

The right to object. You may object to certain types of processing, including processing based on our legitimate interests or performance of a task in the public interest, where you believe your rights and interests outweigh those interests.

The right to data portability. Where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request that we provide your data in a structured, commonly used, and machine readable format, or that we transfer it to another organisation where technically feasible.

Where we rely on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

How To Exercise Your Rights Or Contact Us

If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, or if you have questions or concerns about how we handle your personal data, you can contact Waste Collection Lewisham using our usual customer contact channels. When you make a request, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We aim to respond within the time limits set by data protection law.

You also have the right to raise concerns with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you are not satisfied with how we handle your personal data. However, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve any issues directly.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, in how we process personal data, or in legal or regulatory requirements. Any updated version will apply from the time it is published. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.