London Rubbish Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how London Rubbish collects, uses, shares and protects personal data relating to our customers. It applies to all London Rubbish customers and prospective customers within our service area in and around London. We are committed to handling your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 and other applicable privacy laws.

Who we are and how to contact us

London Rubbish is a waste collection and related services provider operating in the London area. We act as the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using the details provided on our usual customer communication channels.

Who this policy applies to

This Privacy Policy applies to all London Rubbish customers and potential customers in our service area, including individuals, households, small businesses and organisations that use, or enquire about using, our services. It also covers individuals who contact us on behalf of a business or organisation, for example as a primary contact or authorised representative.

Personal data we collect

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

Identification and contact details: name, title, postal address, service address, billing address, email address, telephone numbers and any contact preferences you choose to share with us.

Account and service information: customer account numbers, records of services requested or provided, service history, service schedules, waste type information where relevant, photographs of collections or locations when needed to document work or verify service levels, and notes relating to your preferences or instructions.

Billing and payment details: records of payments made to us, information necessary to process payments, such as partial card details or bank details where you choose to pay by bank transfer or direct debit, invoices, credit notes and information about outstanding balances.

Communication records: emails, messages, telephone call notes, complaints, enquiries, feedback and any other correspondence between you and London Rubbish, including information you provide when you respond to surveys or request support.

Technical and usage information: basic technical data from your interactions with our website or online tools, such as IP address, browser type and general usage information. Where cookies or similar technologies are used, we only process personal data through them where this is necessary for our services or where we have obtained your consent where required by law.

Legal and compliance information: records necessary to comply with our legal obligations, including information relating to disputes, accidents, suspected fraud or misuse of services.

How we use your personal data and lawful bases

We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the context, we rely on the following bases:

Performance of a contract: We use your personal data to provide and manage our services, set up and maintain your customer account, arrange collections, manage bookings and schedules, handle payments, send service communications and respond to service related enquiries.

Legitimate interests: We use your information where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where these are not overridden by your data protection rights. This includes managing and improving our services, ensuring network and information security, training staff, preventing fraud or misuse, keeping internal records, and communicating with you about changes to our services or terms where the law does not require consent.

Legal obligations: We process personal data as needed to comply with laws and regulations, including tax, accounting, waste management and health and safety requirements. This can involve keeping certain records for specified periods or providing information to regulators or authorities where required.

Consent: In limited situations we may rely on your consent, for example for certain forms of direct marketing or for optional cookies or analytics. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time, and we will explain how to do this at the time we obtain your consent.

Data sharing and processors

We do not sell your personal data. We only share it where necessary and with appropriate safeguards. We may share your personal data with:

Service providers acting as data processors: These are third parties who provide services to us, such as IT hosting and support, payment processing, communication platforms, route planning or customer management systems. They process personal data on our instructions and are bound by contractual obligations to protect your data, keep it confidential and use it only for the purposes we specify.

Professional advisers and insurers: We may share relevant personal data with our legal advisers, accountants, auditors and insurers where this is necessary for advice, audits, claims handling or dispute resolution.

Regulatory bodies and authorities: We may disclose personal data where required by law, regulation or court order, or in response to lawful requests from public authorities, including for the prevention or detection of crime or fraud.

Business transfers: If we undergo a reorganisation, merger, acquisition or sale of part or all of our business, personal data may be shared with the relevant parties, subject to appropriate confidentiality protections, and will remain subject to this Privacy Policy or a policy substantially similar to it.

Where we use data processors, we take steps to ensure they provide sufficient guarantees for the protection of your personal data, including through written contracts, security reviews and ongoing oversight.

International data transfers

Where possible, we seek to keep your personal data within the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area. If we need to transfer personal data to countries outside these regions, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent protections, and that your rights remain protected in line with applicable data protection law.

Data retention

We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting or reporting requirements. The exact retention period depends on the type of data and the context of our relationship with you.

In general, we retain customer account and service records for as long as you remain a customer and for a period afterwards to handle queries, deal with potential disputes, comply with legal obligations and maintain accurate financial records. After these periods expire, we will securely delete or anonymise your personal data so that it can no longer be associated with you.

How we protect your data

We use a combination of technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure. These measures include access controls, encryption or pseudonymisation where appropriate, secure storage, staff training and regular review of our security practices. While no system can be completely secure, we work to ensure that the level of protection matches the sensitivity of the data we hold.

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 London Rubbish customers in our service area, subject to certain conditions and legal exceptions. They include:

Right of access: You can request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with certain information about how we use it.

Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate personal data or to complete incomplete information. We encourage you to keep your contact and billing details up to date so we can provide services effectively.

Right to erasure: In some circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, where you withdraw consent and there is no other legal basis, or where you successfully object to our processing. This right is subject to our need to retain certain information for legal or legitimate business reasons.

Right to restrict processing: You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as where you contest its accuracy or object to our use of it, while we consider your request.

Right to object: You can object to processing based on our legitimate interests where you believe your fundamental rights and freedoms outweigh our interests. You also have the right to object to direct marketing at any time, and we will stop sending you marketing communications if you do so.

Right to data portability: In certain cases, you may request that we provide you or another controller with a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format.

Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you may withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before you withdrew consent.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you are concerned about how we handle your personal data. We encourage you to contact us first so 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 data protection practices. Any changes will take effect when the updated policy is made available through our usual communication channels. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.