Privacy notice
What is the purpose of this document?
This privacy notice explains how we, Norfolk Recycles (a Norfolk County Council (NCC) hosted website), use your information to improve waste and recycling services for Norfolk's residents and visitors.
By 'use' we mean what we do with your information, and how we store and share it.
- If you have provided consent for newsletters, surveys, photos/videos, or if you are an education provider and requested a Reusable Period Products Teachers kit. You can withdraw consent at any time by using the 'opt out' button directly on the newsletter or by email to [email protected].
This Privacy Notice should be read alongside our Cookie Policy.
Further details about us and your rights
Norfolk Recycles (a Norfolk County Council hosted website) provide the following details in our general privacy notice on our website:
- Who we are (and contact details)
- Your rights under the UK GDPR (including complaints)
You can also ask us for a copy of these details or find further information on our 'About us' webpage.
What information we collect and use about you
The information we may collect and use may include your:
- Name
- Address
- Contact details
- Your social relationships, i.e., your marital status and whether you have any children
- Your household i.e., dependents or other family living with you, or whether you live alone
- Photographs/images/videos
We may also collect and use "special category" information on the photos/videos relating to:
- Health data including any disabilities and medical conditions
- Religious or philosophical beliefs
- Sexual orientation
For example:
- Information about your physical or mental health, or disability status, which may be captured in photographs and/or video footage
- Information about your race or national or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or your sexual orientation, which may be captured in photographs and/or video footage
By law we can only collect 'special category' information when it is relevant and for the purposes described above.
The UK GDPR includes safeguards to protect the use of your special category data. Further details can be found on our website in the document named 'Special category data and criminal offences data policy' which sets out our procedures for compliance with the principles of the UK GDPR and the retention and erasure of this information.
How we use your information
We may use your personal information to:
- Respond to requests for information or services via online contact forms
- We may obtain information via online contact forms submitted to Norfolk Recycles to ascertain the need to increase the availability of waste reduction and offer reuse, repair and recycling activities in your area
- Provide residents and businesses with information on the importance of waste as a resource and the range of opportunities for waste reduction, repair, reuse and recycling
- Run events and initiatives to encourage reduce, reuse and recycle, and publishing newsletters about these and other activities.
- Photographs and videos may be taken at events or campaigns (where you have provided separate consent)
- Obtain feedback on our website functionality through Gov Metric or online forms (where you have provided separate consent)
- Secure the provision of recruiting, managing and supporting volunteers for a range of activities and initiatives including food waste champions, master composters and reduce, reuse and recycle
- To issue 'Reusable Period Products Teachers kit' when requested by educational settings
- Manage subscriber mailing lists for communications about our work (if you have provided consent to sign up)
- To contact you with surveys in relation to services offered by Norfolk Recycles
We also use your information to review the quality of our services and improve how we work.
We also use your information in other ways compatible with the above.
Who provides this information
We receive this information from you.
Who we share our information with
We share your information with:
- Other departments in NCC
- Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk
- Breckland District Council
- Broadland and South Norfolk District Councils
- Great Yarmouth Borough Council
- Norfolk Environmental Waste Services (NEWS) (they manage Norfolk's recycling centres and materials recycling facility)
- Norfolk County Council
- North Norfolk District Council
- Norwich City Council
All information is shared on a need-to-know basis. We only share information where there is a lawful basis to do so and we do not share more than is necessary.
We also share your information with companies that help us do our job. They also must keep your information safe and only use it to help us. For example, this includes IT providers such as Microsoft, GOSS, Google Analytics and Dot Digital (newsletters).
Our lawful basis for using your information
We have legal reasons under the UK GDPR to use your information because it is necessary:
For the performance of a task carried out in the public interest and the task or function has a clear basis in law. These statutory powers and duties are:
- Environmental Protection Act 1990
- Environmental Protection (Waste Recycling Payments) (England) Regulations 2004
- The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013
- The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009
- Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005
- We also process personal information where it is necessary for the performance of a contract (e.g. lease, licence, service and maintenance contract)
We have legal reasons to use (including share) your special category information because it is necessary:
- We have obtained your explicit consent
Where applicable, we may also seek specific consent to use your information in certain ways. This will normally be where the use of the data is not necessary for the above purposes but may be very useful or helpful to us to provide services and you have a free and genuine choice about the way in which your data is used. For example, consent is used for: newsletters, feedback, photos/videos and surveys.
Where consent is applicable you can withdraw consent at any time by: choosing the 'opt-out' option at the bottom of the email for newsletter or by emailing us at: [email protected]
How long we keep your information
When the information is no longer needed for the above reasons, it will be securely deleted or shredded.
Where consent is applicable you can withdraw consent at any time by: choosing the 'opt-out' option at the bottom of the email for newsletter or by emailing us at: [email protected]
If we need to use your information for research or reports, it will be anonymised, or pseudonymised, and any notes (handwritten or typed) from research sessions will be securely destroyed. The information will continue to be used in a summarised and anonymised or pseudonymised form in any published research reports or papers. If the published research is of historic interest, it may be held in public archives indefinitely.
How we keep your information
The information is stored electronically securely within the GOSS, Dot Digital database and/or Microsoft.
We do not process your information outside of the UK.
Online forms and customer databases
When we collect information via online forms, we will only ask for the information required to effectively deal with the enquiry or application. Information provided will either be sent to an email inbox or will added to a customer database.
Our main customer database is CRM provided by GOSS (with customer information for a few services still on Microsoft Dynamics until 2025). For some Norfolk County Council (NCC) services, they may also hold customer information in a service specific database. All our customer databases are subject to data quality controls in line with the UK GDPR. We use the information provided to process customer enquiries, provide the required service, verify customer identity, update customer records, and test/resolve system or process errors.
More details about how your information is processed by each of our councils can be found in their detailed privacy notices. These are linked to on our 'About us' page.
- GOSS forms: GOSS is a cloud hosted SAAS. All data is stored, processed and managed in the UK and GOSS are a UK-based service provider. For full information see: GOSS Privacy Notice.
Email alerts and newsletters
We currently use DotDigital to deliver our email newsletters and alert services. When you subscribe to our newsletters your email address is held on the DotDigital platform to enable us to send you newsletters/email alerts.
You will only receive messages that are relevant to the service that you have subscribed to. You have the option to subscribe to additional Borough, City, County or District Council newsletters via their websites. You can unsubscribe from Norfolk Recycles at any time by following the links in each email we send.
Automated decision making
We do not make automated decisions (including profiling) about you.
Links to other websites
Where this notice applies to information collected or processed on a website, please note this privacy notice only applies to the County Council's Norfolk Recycles website and ceases to apply when you leave our pages. If you follow links to other organisations websites, even if you follow a link which we have provided, it is suggested you take the time to read the privacy notices on the websites you visit.
Changes to this notice
We update this privacy notice from time to time, so please review it often. The date below is updated every time this privacy notice is updated.
This privacy notice was created on April 2026.
