Privacy notice – photographs taken by collection crews

North Somerset Council is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office for the purposes of processing personal data. We have instructed North Somerset Environment Company Ltd (NSEC), who carry out our waste collection service on our behalf, to take photos to evidence their reasons for a missed waste collection (for example a blocked road or a contaminated container).

While every effort is made to avoid any personal data within these photos, there are times when this is impossible, for example where a car registration or house number is in the shot, or if the waste container contains personal mail. We consider these photos, therefore, to be personal data, and are held and used in accordance with the requirements of UK and European data protection law. Where the photo is specific to your property, the photo will form part of your waste file, and be held for three months.

In accordance with Article 6(1)(f) of GDPR, we consider it to be in our legitimate business interests to take these photos.  This is because we use the photos to demonstrate the service we have delivered, and without the photos, we would be unable to evidence why a collection was missed, or monitor the performance of our contractor. You do have the right to raise an objection to us holding a photo that contains your personal data or on your waste file. You also have the right to see the personal data we process about you, as well as the right of objection, rectification and restriction.  

We will not use the photos in a way that may cause you unwarranted nuisance, and they would never be shared or processed outside of the UK.

We may lawfully disclose information to public sector agencies to prevent or detect fraud or other crime, or to support the national fraud initiatives and protect public funds under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. Under the conditions of the Digital Economy Act 2017, we may also share personal data provided to us with other public authorities as defined in the Act, for the purposes of fraud or crime detection or prevention, to recover monies owed to us, to improve public service delivery, or for statistical research. We do not share the information with other organisations for commercial purposes.

If you have any questions or concerns about the way we process your personal data, contact our Data Protection Officer at DPO@n-somerset.gov.uk