Privacy notice for Environmental Services

What do we use the information for?

Environmental services collect, process and hold your personal information in order to provide out services effectively.

• To provide waste collection for both domestic and commercial customers -  including  assisted collections, clinical waste customers, bin deliveries including second green bin approvals, advice on recycling and waste
• Waste recycling and disposal – including sending out tip permits for HWRS, and sending out bin reminder messages via our text message reminder service
• Forestry services - including carrying out scheduled inspections of all trees in the county  and requests for tree works
• To maintain council land  - including parks, open spaces, council house gardens and verges
• Cemeteries and churchyards - including selling graves and plots, transferring of grave ownership, arranging interments, ordering memorial plaques and benches, inspection of headstones
• To run outdoor markets across the county
• Operate allotment plots
• Inspect and maintain play areas. 

We also use information to improve our services so that they are more appropriate to people’s requirements.  We recognise that your personal information is important to you, and we take our responsibilities for ensuring that we collect and manage it proportionately, correctly and safely very seriously.

What information do we hold and use?

Environmental services collect and process the following information:

• Personal information (including full name, full residential address)
• Contact details (such as email address, telephone number)
• Mobile phone numbers for the text message reminder service (opt in service)
• Company information (such as types of waste generated)
• Details of enquiry, complaint or request 
• Details of contaminated bins, unapproved second bins or access issues reported by collection crews
• Details of clinical waste collection requirements for clinical waste customers (such as customer medical requirements)
• Vehicle details (including registration number plate).

On what grounds do we use the information?

Environmental services collect and lawfully process your personal information under the following:

• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• Local Authorities’ Cemeteries Order 1977 (England and Wales)
• Environment Act 1995
• Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011
• Waste Duty of Care Code of Practice
• Highways Act 1980
• Allotments Act 1950
• Playground Safety Guidelines 1998. 

We process personal data for the following reasons: 

• GDPR Article 6(1)(a) – the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes
• GDPR Article 6(1)(c) – processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligation to which the East Riding of Yorkshire Council is subject
• GDPR Article 6(1)(e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

We process special category data for the following reasons: 

• GDPR Article 9(2)(a) - the data subject has given explicit consent to the processing of those personal data for one or more specified purposes, except where Union or Member State law provide that the prohibition referred to in paragraph 1 may not be lifted by the data subject.

How do we collect this information?

We may collect information in the following ways:  

• Paper, electronic or online forms
• Email
• Telephone
• Text message, for subscription to the reminder service
• Face to face, with one of our employees, residents or one of our partners.

Who do we share your information with?

We share relevant information internally with other departments within the council to enable necessary works/ maintenance to be undertaken and acknowledgement and responses to be provided to requests, enquiries and complaints. 

We may disclose your information to others, but only where this is necessary either to comply with our legal obligations or as permitted by Data Protection legislation.  For example, we may share information with registrars, following an interment and completion of a death certificate.

We have an agreement with Humberside Fire and Rescue Service to share details, when agreed, regarding new assisted collections so additional fire safety checks can be undertaken (Agreement number ISA152). 

We will not pass your personal information to external organisations for marketing or sales purposes or for any commercial use without your prior expressed consent.

How long do we store it and is it secure?

Environmental services has a retention schedule in place to ensure that information is only held for as long as it is needed. We will not keep your information for longer than is required to by law.  Your information will be disposed of in a controlled and secure manner in accordance with the council’s Records Management and Data Quality Policy. The council’s IT security and confidentiality policies ensure that your information is protected, and accessed only by staff directly involved in your case.  

For information on how long your information will be held, visit the retention page.

What rights do you have?

The rights that you have depend upon the grounds  in which we collected your information.  All of the rights you could have are outlined on the data protection rights page. 

In most cases, people who have been involved with environmental services will have the following rights:

The right of access - you are entitled to see the information we hold about you 

The right to rectification -  we will amend information accordingly, if any information the  service holds about you  is incorrect 

The right to restrict processing - you may wish to limit how we use your data 

The right to object - in addition to the right to limit the use of your data, you also have a right to object to the use of your data for certain actions 

The right to erasure/ right to be forgotten - in certain circumstances, you may be able to ask for some of the information we hold to be deleted. The service has determined that all requests to permanently delete a service user record will be dealt with on an individual basis.

To exercise any of your above rights, please visit the data protection rights page for more information.

Where can I find out more?

If you want to know more about how the council uses information, your rights or have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance;  contact details are available on the general privacy information page. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest and they handle public concerns regarding organisations information rights practices. 

Information Commissioner’s Office (external website)

When was this privacy notice last updated?

We will continually review and update this privacy notice to reflect any changes in our services, feedback from customers, and to comply with any changes in the law. This privacy notice was last updated on 1 February 2021.