Waste Disposal Merton Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Waste Disposal Merton collects, uses, stores and shares personal data relating to customers and prospective customers located in the Merton area. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy applies to all Waste Disposal Merton customers and service users in our operating area, including individuals, households, landlords, letting agents and business clients.

By engaging Waste Disposal Merton to provide waste removal, rubbish clearance, recycling or related services, or by contacting us with an enquiry, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Who we are and how to contact us

Waste Disposal Merton is the controller of the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. As controller, we decide how and why your personal data is processed. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal data or the exercise of your rights, you can contact us using the details provided on our standard customer correspondence, invoices or booking confirmations.

What personal data we collect

We collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us and which services you use. The main categories of personal data we may collect are:

Identification and contact data: This includes your name, postal address, email address, telephone number and, where relevant, job title or role within an organisation. For landlord, letting agent or business clients, this may include contact details of key contacts or authorised representatives.

Service and contract information: This includes details of your service requests, waste collection or clearance bookings, property access instructions, service addresses, billing addresses, service notes, photographs of waste items where required for quotes, and any other information you provide in connection with a service order or enquiry.

Payment and transaction data: This includes records of services purchased, payments made, payment method type, and basic invoicing and account information. We do not store full card details when payment is taken through third party payment providers.

Communications data: This includes records of communications with you, such as emails, letters, text messages and notes of telephone calls, including complaints, feedback and enquiries.

Website and technical data: Where you visit our website, we may collect technical data such as your IP address, device type, browser type and version, and basic usage information such as pages visited and time spent. This may be collected through essential cookies or similar technologies where used.

Special category data: We do not intentionally collect special category data, such as health information, unless it is strictly necessary for a specific service and you choose to disclose it, for example where special access arrangements or health and safety considerations apply. In such cases we will limit collection and use to what is necessary for that purpose.

How we collect your personal data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you contact us by telephone, email, post, through our website or via social media channels, when you request a quote, make a booking or enter into a contract for services.

We may also receive personal data from third parties, such as letting agents, landlords, property managers, local businesses or other intermediaries who engage us to provide services at a particular property. Where they provide your details to us, they are responsible for ensuring they have a lawful basis to share that information.

In some cases, we may collect publicly available information to confirm addresses, business contact details or property information in order to schedule and carry out services effectively.

Lawful bases for processing your data

We rely on one or more of the following lawful bases under UK GDPR when processing your personal data:

Performance of a contract: We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, such as providing waste disposal services, issuing quotes, arranging collections and processing payments.

Legitimate interests: We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these are not overridden by your rights and interests. This includes managing our operations, improving our services, responding to enquiries, maintaining records, preventing fraud, ensuring security and promoting our services to existing customers in a proportionate manner.

Legal obligations: We process personal data where necessary to comply with legal obligations, such as tax and accounting requirements, waste transfer and disposal regulations, and health and safety duties.

Consent: In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain types of direct marketing to new prospects or where we process optional information you choose to provide. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us.

How we use your personal data

We use personal data to:

Provide and manage waste disposal, rubbish clearance, recycling and related services you request.

Prepare and send quotes, invoices and service confirmations.

Arrange access to your property, coordinate collection times and manage on-site operations.

Respond to enquiries, complaints and feedback.

Maintain accurate records for accounting, tax, regulatory compliance and audit purposes.

Improve our services, plan capacity and manage our customer base in the Merton area.

Send service updates and proportionate marketing messages about similar services to existing customers, subject to your communication preferences and legal requirements.

Protect our business, for example by preventing fraud, addressing disputes and enforcing our contractual rights.

Data sharing and processors

We may share your personal data with carefully selected third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers.

Processors include providers of IT and cloud services, email and communication platforms, payment processors, accounting and bookkeeping services, document storage providers and customer relationship tools. We only engage processors who provide sufficient guarantees of data protection and we maintain written contracts requiring them to process your personal data only on our documented instructions and to keep it secure.

We may also share personal data with professional advisers such as accountants, auditors, legal advisers and insurers where necessary for professional advice, legal proceedings or insurance matters.

In some circumstances we may need to share data with regulators, law enforcement or other public authorities where required by law or where it is necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.

Where we use subcontractors or partner organisations to deliver services at your property, we will share only the data they reasonably need, such as service address details, contact information and service instructions.

Data retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to meet any legal, accounting or reporting obligations.

As a general guide, we keep core customer and transaction records for a minimum period required by tax and accounting laws, typically six years from the end of the financial year in which the transaction occurred. Service-related communications, quotes and operational records may be kept for a similar period to handle queries, disputes and regulatory requirements.

Where personal data is no longer needed for the original purpose and no legal obligation requires retention, we will either delete it securely, anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to you, or restrict access to it.

International transfers

Where we use service providers located outside the United Kingdom, or where data may be stored or accessed from other countries, we take steps to ensure that your personal data is adequately protected, for example by relying on adequacy regulations or by using approved standard contractual clauses and appropriate safeguards.

Your data protection rights

You have a number of rights under UK data protection law in relation to your personal data. These rights apply to all Waste Disposal Merton customers in our area, subject to certain conditions and exemptions.

Right of access: You have the right to request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to request a copy of that data, along with information about how we use it.

Right to rectification: You have the right to ask us to correct or complete personal data that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you have the right to request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer necessary for the original purpose or where you withdraw consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

Right to restriction: You may ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we verify its accuracy or consider an objection you have raised.

Right to object: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis, including profiling based on those interests. You also have an absolute right to object at any time to the use of your personal data for direct marketing.

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 personal data you provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to request that we transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided on our usual customer correspondence. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We aim to respond to all valid requests within one month.

Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner. Details of how to do this are available directly from the Information Commissioner.

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. The 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 use and protect your personal data.