Waste Removal Lewisham Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Waste Removal Lewisham collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers. It applies to all individuals using our waste removal and related services within the Lewisham area, including enquiries, bookings and any ongoing customer relationships. We are committed to processing your personal data in a lawful, fair and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who We Are and How to Contact Us

Waste Removal Lewisham is a waste collection and disposal service operating in the Lewisham area. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller in relation to the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal information.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about how we handle your personal data, or if you wish to exercise any of your rights, you can contact us using the contact information provided on our main customer communications, invoices or booking confirmations.

Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for the provision of our services and to manage our relationship with you. The categories of personal data we may collect include:

Identification and contact details, such as your name, address, email address, telephone number and any alternative contact details you provide. Service details, such as the property address where waste is to be collected, access instructions, preferred dates and times, and information about the type and volume of waste. Communication records, including details of enquiries, complaints, feedback and any other correspondence by phone, email, messaging services or in writing. Billing and payment information, such as billing address, payment method details as required for processing payments, as well as amounts charged and payment history. Technical and usage data, such as basic information about how you interact with our website or digital services, including the date, time and duration of visits and the pages accessed. This may be collected using essential cookies or similar technologies where permitted by law.

We do not intentionally collect special category data, such as health information or data revealing racial or ethnic origin, and we ask that you do not provide such information to us. If you include this type of information within your communications with us, it will only be processed where strictly necessary and in accordance with data protection law.

How We Use Your Personal Data and Lawful Basis

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

Performance of a contract: We use your personal data to provide our services to you, including handling bookings, confirming appointments, collecting waste from your property, issuing invoices and communicating with you about your service. Without this information we would not be able to deliver the services you request.

Legitimate interests: We may process your personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that these are not overridden by your rights and interests. Examples include maintaining accurate business records, improving our services, managing customer queries, and ensuring the security of our operations. Where we rely on legitimate interests, we carefully balance our interests with your privacy rights.

Legal obligations: We may process your personal data to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as obligations relating to tax, accounting, waste management regulations and health and safety law. This may include retaining certain records for specified periods.

Consent: In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain types of marketing communications that are not otherwise based on legitimate interests. Where consent is used, you have the right to withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Data Retention and Storage

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting or reporting obligations. The specific retention period may vary depending on the type of data and the context in which it was provided.

Typically, customer account and billing records are kept for a period required by tax and accounting regulations. Service-related information, such as bookings and job details, may be held for a reasonable time after completion of the work to respond to queries, handle any disputes and maintain accurate business records. Communications and correspondence may be retained for an appropriate period to ensure we can refer to previous interactions where needed.

When personal data is no longer required, it will be securely deleted, anonymised or otherwise disposed of in a safe manner that protects your privacy.

Data Processors and Sharing of Personal Data

We may share your personal data with third parties where necessary for the operation of our business and the delivery of our services, always in accordance with data protection law. These third parties act as data processors or, in some cases, as independent controllers.

Service providers acting as data processors may include companies providing information technology services, hosting and maintenance of digital systems, payment processing, accounting support, customer relationship management tools and communication platforms. These processors are only permitted to process your personal data on our instructions and are required to implement appropriate security measures and confidentiality obligations.

We may also share data with professional advisers such as accountants, insurers or legal professionals where this is necessary to obtain professional advice or manage legal or insurance matters. In addition, we may disclose personal data where required by law, for example to governmental or regulatory authorities, law enforcement agencies or courts.

We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it with third parties for their own independent marketing purposes.

International Transfers

In some cases, our service providers may be located outside the United Kingdom or may store data in other countries. Where this occurs, we will ensure that any international transfers of personal data comply with applicable data protection legislation. This may include using standard contractual clauses or ensuring that the destination country has been recognised as providing an adequate level of data protection.

How We Protect Your Personal Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include restricting access to personal data to those who need it for their role, using secure systems and applying reasonable safeguards to our physical and digital environments.

While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no system can be fully secure. You are also responsible for taking sensible precautions, such as safeguarding any account details and taking care when sharing personal data with us by email or other channels.

Your Data Protection Rights

As a customer or prospective customer of Waste Removal Lewisham in the Lewisham area, you have a number of rights under data protection law in relation to your personal data. These rights are subject to certain conditions and legal exceptions, and we will explain these if you choose to exercise any of your rights.

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

Right to rectification: You have the right to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data that we hold about you.

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

Right to restriction of processing: You may request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as where you contest its accuracy or object to our processing and we are considering your request.

Right to object: Where we rely on legitimate interests to process your personal data, you have the right to object to that processing when there are grounds relating to your particular situation. You also have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal data for direct marketing.

Right to data portability: In some cases, you have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to have it transmitted to another controller, where technically feasible.

Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details set out in our customer communications. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.

Complaints and Contacting the Supervisory Authority

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK data protection supervisory authority. Details of how to do this can be found on the information provided by that authority.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, our practices or legal requirements. When we make significant changes, we will take appropriate steps to inform you, such as updating the policy on our main communication channels. The latest version will always apply to the processing of your personal data.