This Privacy Policy explains how Better Waste Streams Academy ("Better Waste Streams", "we", "us") collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you visit our website or use the Better Waste Streams Academy training platform (the "Service"). It applies to property managers, organization administrators, and individual learners ("you").
1. Information We Collect
a. Information you provide
- Account information: name, email address, password (stored as a one-way hash), and the organization/property you are associated with.
- Organization details: business or property name, address (used to tailor educational content to your service area), and the role you hold (owner, property manager, staff).
- Learning activity: modules enrolled in, lessons started and completed, quiz responses and scores, and certificates issued.
- Support communications: any messages you send us by email or through a contact form.
b. Information collected automatically
- Device & usage data: IP address, browser type, operating system, referring pages, pages visited, timestamps, and approximate location derived from IP.
- Cookies and similar technologies: a session cookie required to keep you signed in, and limited first-party analytics to understand which modules and pages are useful. We do not use third-party advertising cookies.
c. Payment information — collected by Paddle
We do not collect or store your full payment card number, CVV, or bank account details. All payment information is collected and processed by Paddle.com Market Limited ("Paddle"), which acts as the merchant of record for the Service. Paddle's handling of your payment data is governed by the Paddle Privacy Notice. We receive only limited transaction metadata back from Paddle (such as a transaction ID, the product purchased, the last four digits of the card, country, and tax amount) to fulfill the order, issue access, and maintain financial records.
2. How We Use Personal Information
- provide, operate, and improve the Service;
- create and manage your account and organization seats;
- fulfill purchases, grant access, and issue certificates of completion;
- generate per-seat progress reports and compliance summaries for your organization's administrator;
- communicate with you about your account, purchases, renewals, and support;
- send occasional product update and educational emails (you can unsubscribe at any time);
- detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, abuse, or security incidents;
- comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not use your data to train third-party AI or advertising models.
3. How We Share Personal Information
We share personal information only with:
- Paddle, our merchant of record, to process payments, calculate and remit taxes, issue invoices and refunds, and handle billing support;
- Service providers that host the platform (cloud hosting, database, email delivery, error monitoring, customer support), bound by contract to use the data only to provide services to us;
- Your organization administrator: if you are a learner seat, progress, quiz completion, and certificate data are visible to administrators of the purchasing organization;
- Authorities, when required by law, subpoena, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of Better Waste Streams, our users, or the public;
- A successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of all or part of our business, subject to this Policy.
4. Data Retention
- Account and learning records are retained while your account is active and for up to seven (7) years after closure, to support your ability to re-verify completed training and to meet our tax and accounting obligations.
- Payment and tax records held by Paddle are retained per Paddle's own policy and applicable tax law.
- Server logs and analytics are retained for up to 13 months in identifiable form.
5. Your Rights
Depending on where you live (including under the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"/"CPRA") and similar U.S. state laws), you may have the right to:
- access, correct, or delete personal information we hold about you;
- obtain a portable copy of your data;
- opt out of certain processing;
- not receive discriminatory treatment for exercising any of these rights.
To exercise a right, email info@betterwastestreams.com. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling the request. We will respond within the time frame required by applicable law.
6. Security
We use encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), hashed passwords, role-based access controls, and row-level security policies on our database. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
7. International Users
The Service is hosted in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, you understand that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where data-protection laws may differ from those of your country.
8. Children
The Service is intended for use by adults in a professional context. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
9. Cookies
We use a small number of strictly necessary cookies (for session/auth) and limited first-party analytics. You can block or delete cookies through your browser; doing so may prevent you from signing in. Paddle's checkout may set its own cookies in accordance with the Paddle Privacy Notice.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. The "Effective" date at the top of this page reflects the latest revision. Material changes will be communicated by email or an in-Service notice.
11. Contact
Privacy questions, data-rights requests, or complaints: info@betterwastestreams.com. See also our Terms & Conditions and Refund Policy.