Privacy notice - waste services

Domestic Waste Services

We are a local authority established under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. You can contact us by:

Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted using the contact details for ourselves as set out above or by emailing dataprotection@scotborders.gov.uk

How will we use your information

We will use your information to allow us to process your request which could be to:  

  • report a problem concerning household waste and recycling collections, community recycling centres and Waste Transfer Stations
  • report a missed bin collection
  • request a different bin size
  • request assistance with a household collection service
  • request a household bulky uplift
  • view your next scheduled collection day 
  • assist us in operating our community recycling centre booking system for large vehicles/trailers wishing to access our sites (this information will be retained for up to twelve months)
  • monitor your compliance with our recycling centre rules and policies, including trade waste We also use your information where required to contact you by post, email or telephone and to maintain our records.

We provide these services to you as part of our statutory function as your local authority. Processing your personal information is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest ourselves under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978.

If you do not provide us with the information we have asked for then we will not be able to provide this service to you.

Information entered via our website but gathered and processed by a third party

You are required to provide personal information to:

  • enable you to view or download your collection calendar.
  • receive collection day reminders or service alert notifications.
  • download the Waste & Recycling app

Please note this information is not processed by ourselves, but by ReCollect, the software provider. For further details please refer to ReCollect’s privacy notice.   

Who we may share your Information with

We are legally obliged to safeguard public funds so we are required to verify and check your details internally for fraud prevention. We may share this information with other public bodies (and also receive information from these other bodies) for fraud checking purposes.

We are also legally obliged to share certain data with other public bodies, such as HMRC and will do so where the law requires this. We will also generally comply with requests for specific information from other regulatory and law enforcement bodies where this is necessary and appropriate.

Your information is also shared and analysed internally to provide management information, inform service reform and similar purposes to meet our duty to achieve best value and continuous service improvement. 

We currently keep some of your information without limit of time. We have a project underway to implement deletion in our CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system and the full range of circumstances where we will keep or delete information is being decided as part of this project and will be detailed here once the project reaches completion.

Third Party Information

If you have provided anyone else's details to us, please make sure that you have told them that you have given their information to us. We will use their information as detailed above. If they want any more information on how we will use their information they can visit our website or email.

What are your rights?

Find information on the rights you have over your personal data or if you would like a hard copy of this information, please contact us using the contact details provided above.

How to raise a complaint

We aim to directly resolve all complaints about how we handle personal information. If your complaint is about how we have handled your personal information, you can contact our Data Protection Officer directly via email dataprotection@scotborders.gov.uk or phone 0300 100 1800.

However, you also have the right to lodge a complaint about data protection matters with the Information Commissioner's Office, who can be contacted by:

  • post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
  • phone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545745
  • website

Please note if your complaint is not about a data protection matter but about waste services, you can raise this online.