Privacy Policy
Trash-Pickup.org is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains in plain language what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over your own data. We designed this site to be useful without requiring accounts, logins, or personal information — and this policy reflects that principle.
📑 On this page
- Quick privacy summary
- Who we are
- What information we collect
- How we use information
- Cookies & tracking
- Advertising partners
- Analytics services
- Third-party services
- How we share data
- How long we keep data
- How we protect data
- Children’s privacy
- International visitors
- Your privacy rights
- EU/UK (GDPR) rights
- California (CCPA) rights
- Canada (PIPEDA) rights
- Do Not Track
- Changes to this policy
- Contact us
The Short Version (Plain-Language Summary)
Most privacy policies are long and confusing because they have to cover every legal jurisdiction in the world. If you only read one section of this page, make it this one:
What this actually means for you
1. You can use trash-pickup.org without signing up, logging in, or giving us any personal information. No account is required to read any article.
2. Your browser will store cookies from us and from our advertising and analytics partners (mainly Google). You can block or delete these any time.
3. If you send us a message through our contact form, we’ll use your email only to reply — we don’t sell it, rent it, or add you to any newsletter unless you explicitly ask.
4. If you’re in California, the EU, the UK, or Canada, you have additional legal rights over your data. We honor all of them. Jump to the Your Rights section to see what applies to you.
Who We Are
Trash-Pickup.org (“we,” “us,” “our,” or “the Site”) is an independent online editorial publication providing trash pickup schedules, garbage collection information, and waste disposal resources for residents of cities and counties across the United States and Canada. The Site is operated as an independent publishing project.
Data controller for the purposes of this policy: The operator of Trash-Pickup.org. For privacy-related questions, contact: [email protected]
What Information We Collect
We only collect information that’s needed to run the site and respond to visitors. We’ve split this into two simple categories: information you give us directly, and information collected automatically when you visit.
Information You Provide Directly
| Type of data | When we collect it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Email address | When you fill out our contact form or submit a correction | To reply to you and confirm any content updates |
| Name (optional) | If you choose to include it when contacting us | To personalize our reply |
| Message content | Whatever you type in the contact form | To understand and respond to your question |
| City / location context | If you mention it when reporting an article error | To verify and correct the relevant article |
We do not ask for phone numbers, home addresses, payment information, dates of birth, government IDs, or any other sensitive personal data. If you send any of that to us unsolicited, we will delete it.
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit any page on trash-pickup.org, our servers and third-party services automatically receive certain technical information that every website receives:
- IP address (partially anonymized for analytics)
- Browser type and version (e.g., Chrome 124, Safari iOS 17)
- Device type (desktop, tablet, mobile)
- Operating system (e.g., Windows 11, macOS, Android, iOS)
- Referring website (where you came from, such as a Google search or a social link)
- Pages you view and how long you stay
- Approximate location (typically city-level, derived from your IP address — we never get GPS coordinates or street-level location)
- Date and time of your visit
This data is used to understand overall site performance and to serve relevant advertisements. It does not identify you personally.
How We Use Your Information
🎯 Answer Your Questions
If you email us or use the contact form, we use your email to reply. Nothing more.
✏️ Fix & Update Articles
If you report an error, we use your info to verify and credit the correction.
📊 Improve the Site
Analytics tell us which pages are read, what’s broken, and where we need better content.
💰 Serve Relevant Ads
Ad networks use cookies to show ads likely to interest you, funding free access.
🛡️ Prevent Abuse
Technical logs help us block spam, bots, scrapers, and malicious traffic.
⚖️ Meet Legal Obligations
We may retain data where required by law, court order, or to defend legal rights.
We do not use your information to build advertising profiles about you personally, sell your email to third parties, train AI models on your messages, or contact you for marketing unless you explicitly opt in.
Cookies & Tracking Technologies
Like nearly every modern website, trash-pickup.org uses cookies — small text files that your browser stores on your device. Cookies help the site remember preferences, measure traffic, and show relevant ads.
Types of Cookies We Use
| Category | Purpose | Can you disable? |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Make the site work (security, load balancing, basic functionality) | Not recommended — site may not function |
| Analytics | Measure traffic, page views, bounce rate (Google Analytics) | Yes — opt out below or via browser |
| Advertising | Show relevant ads, limit repeat ads, measure ad performance (Google AdSense) | Yes — opt out via Google’s ad settings |
| Preferences | Remember simple choices (e.g., closing a banner) | Yes — clear browser cookies anytime |
Managing Cookies
You can control cookies through your browser settings:
- Chrome: Clear, allow & manage cookies
- Firefox: Cookie settings
- Safari: Manage cookies on Mac
- Edge: Delete cookies in Edge
Advertising Partners
Trash-Pickup.org is supported primarily by advertising. We partner with reputable ad networks that operate under strict privacy standards. Our primary advertising partner is Google AdSense.
How Advertising Works Here
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites.
- Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our site and/or other sites on the Internet.
- You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
- You can also opt out of many third-party advertising networks at aboutads.info (US) or youronlinechoices.eu (EU).
What Google AdSense Collects
Google may collect or receive information about users to enable ad serving, including: IP address, cookies and similar technologies, device identifiers, and information about the pages visited. This data is processed under Google’s Privacy Policy.
Analytics Services
We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how visitors find and use our site. Analytics data is aggregated — we see that (for example) 1,200 people read the Denver article last month, not “John Smith from Denver read the article.”
Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to analyze site usage. Data collected includes pages visited, time spent on site, referral source, approximate location (city-level), device type, and interactions with pages. IP addresses are anonymized before processing.
You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking entirely by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Other Third-Party Services
A small number of services process data in order for trash-pickup.org to function. Each has its own privacy practices, linked below.
| Service | What it does | Their privacy policy |
|---|---|---|
| Google Maps | Embedded maps showing city offices & drop-off sites | Google Privacy |
| Google AdSense | Display advertising | Google Privacy |
| Google Analytics | Traffic analytics | Google Privacy |
| Cloudflare | Security, performance, DDoS protection | Cloudflare Privacy |
| Our web host | Hosts the website files and database | Varies by provider |
How We Share Your Information
We do not sell, rent, lease, or trade personal information. Period. Here’s the complete list of when your information is shared outside of trash-pickup.org:
- Service providers: The third-party services listed above (Google, Cloudflare, web host) process technical data as part of delivering the site. They are bound by their own privacy policies and contractual data-processing terms.
- Legal requirements: If required by a valid legal process — such as a subpoena, court order, or applicable law — we may disclose information to comply.
- Protection of rights and safety: To enforce this policy, protect our legal rights, or protect others from fraud, abuse, or illegal activity.
- Business transfer: If trash-pickup.org is ever acquired, merged, or reorganized, user data may transfer to the new owner, who will be bound by the terms of this policy or a successor policy with at least equivalent protections.
We do not share personal information with advertisers for their own marketing use.
How Long We Keep Your Data
We keep data only as long as needed to fulfill the purpose it was collected for, plus any legally required retention period.
| Data type | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Contact form messages & email correspondence | 24 months after last interaction |
| Error reports / content corrections | 36 months (for audit trail) |
| Google Analytics data | 14 months (GA4 default) |
| Server access logs | 30 days for security monitoring |
| Advertising cookies | Managed by Google — typically 13 months maximum |
You can request earlier deletion of your personal data at any time — see the Your Privacy Rights section.
How We Protect Your Data
We use industry-standard safeguards to protect the information we collect:
- HTTPS everywhere: All connections to trash-pickup.org are encrypted via SSL/TLS.
- Reputable hosting: Our servers are managed by established hosting providers with their own enterprise-grade security controls.
- CDN & DDoS protection: Cloudflare protects the site against attacks, scraping, and abuse.
- Limited data collection: The strongest protection against data breach is collecting as little as possible — which is our default posture.
- Access controls: Only editors who need access to contact-form data can see it. We do not give third parties access to messages.
No internet transmission or storage system is 100% secure. While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security. Any data transmission is at your own risk.
Children’s Privacy
Trash-Pickup.org is intended for a general adult audience — property owners, renters, and residents looking up municipal trash schedules. The site is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or under 16 in certain European jurisdictions).
We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact [email protected] and we will promptly delete it.
International Visitors & Data Transfers
Trash-Pickup.org is operated globally online. By using the Site, you understand that your information may be transferred to, stored, or processed in the United States, Canada, or other countries where our servers or service providers operate. These countries may have different data protection laws than your home jurisdiction.
For visitors in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, and Switzerland, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or other legally approved transfer mechanisms where applicable.
Your Privacy Rights
Depending on where you live, you have specific legal rights over your personal data. We honor these rights regardless of whether you fall into one of the jurisdictions with explicit laws — because it’s the right thing to do.
Right to access your data
You can ask us what personal data we hold about you, and we’ll provide a copy free of charge within 30 days.
Right to correct inaccurate data
If we have incorrect information about you, you can ask us to correct it.
Right to deletion (right to be forgotten)
You can request that we delete the personal data we hold about you. We’ll honor this unless we’re legally required to keep it (e.g., tax records, fraud prevention).
Right to restrict processing
You can ask us to pause processing your data in certain situations, such as while a dispute over accuracy is being resolved.
Right to data portability
You can request a copy of your data in a common machine-readable format (like JSON or CSV) so you can move it to another service.
Right to object to processing
You can object to certain types of processing — for example, processing based on legitimate interests — and we’ll stop unless we have overriding legal grounds.
Right to opt out of targeted advertising
You can opt out of personalized ads at Google Ads Settings, aboutads.info, or youronlinechoices.eu.
Right to lodge a complaint
If you believe we’ve violated your privacy rights, you may file a complaint with your local data protection authority (see GDPR/CCPA/PIPEDA sections below).
To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected] with your request. We may need to verify your identity before acting. We respond to all verified requests within 30 days.
If You’re in the EU or UK (GDPR)
If you’re located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR. The rights listed in the section above are explicitly guaranteed by these laws.
Legal bases for processing: We rely on the following GDPR legal bases:
- Consent — for advertising cookies and newsletter signup (if applicable)
- Legitimate interests — for basic analytics, security monitoring, and responding to inquiries
- Legal obligation — for retention of records required by law
Supervisory authority: You may lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. A list is available at edpb.europa.eu.
If You’re in California (CCPA / CPRA)
California residents have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). Key rights include:
- Right to know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and sell.
- Right to delete personal information we’ve collected.
- Right to correct inaccurate personal information.
- Right to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
- Right to limit use of sensitive personal information.
- Right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights.
Do We “Sell” or “Share” Personal Information? Under the broad CCPA/CPRA definition, the use of third-party advertising cookies may be considered “sharing” of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not sell personal information for money. To opt out of sharing for advertising purposes, visit aboutads.info/choices or enable the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal in your browser — we honor GPC as a valid opt-out request.
To exercise your California rights: Email [email protected]. We respond within 45 days (with one 45-day extension allowed for complex requests).
If You’re in Canada (PIPEDA)
Under Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canadian residents have rights to access, correct, and withdraw consent for the use of personal information.
To exercise your rights or file a complaint, contact us at [email protected]. If unresolved, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Do Not Track & Global Privacy Control
Most modern browsers offer a “Do Not Track” (DNT) setting. Because there’s no universal industry standard for how websites should interpret DNT, this site does not currently respond to DNT signals in a uniform way.
We do honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal for users in California and other jurisdictions where it has legal effect. If your browser sends GPC, we treat it as an opt-out request for the sharing of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this policy from time to time — for example, when we add a new service, a law changes, or we clarify an existing practice. When we make material changes, we’ll update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and, for significant changes, post a notice on the Site homepage for at least 14 days.
Material changes that affect how we collect, use, or share your personal information will not apply retroactively unless required by law.
We recommend checking this page whenever you’re curious. Your continued use of trash-pickup.org after an update constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact Us About Privacy
If you have any questions, requests, or concerns about this privacy policy or how your data is handled, please get in touch — we’re happy to help.
📧 Privacy Inquiries
Email our editorial team for any privacy-related question, data request, or correction.
Email: [email protected]
General contact: trash-pickup.org/contact
Response time: Within 30 days of request (45 for California requests)
This Privacy Policy is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Trash-Pickup.org is an independent editorial publication. If you have legal questions about data privacy in your specific situation, please consult a qualified attorney.