Account deletion
Delete your account
You can delete your WasteAway account and the personal data attached to it, from inside the app or by writing to us. This page is the whole picture: what to settle first, both routes, what is erased, what we must keep, and how long it takes.
First: clear any balance the account is holding
An account that still holds money cannot be deleted. WasteAway refuses the deletion while a balance is above zero, and the app names the balance that is blocking it. That way nothing is left stranded on an account nobody can sign into again.
For most people that balance is the wallet. Money in your WasteAway wallet pays for pickups and plans. It stays in the app: there is no transfer back to a card or bank account, so a wallet is emptied by spending it. That is true of a top-up, a refund credited back to you and a recyclables buy-back payout alike, and it is the reason the wallet has to be down to zero before the account can go.
| What is holding money | How to clear it |
|---|---|
| Your wallet | Spend it. Wallet money pays for WasteAway pickups and plans and cannot be paid out to a bank account, so book a pickup, or let your subscription’s next visits draw the balance down. Support can help you spend it. |
| A business or estate wallet you own | Spend it the same way, or add a manager who can spend it: an estate that still has someone able to bill the wallet does not block your deletion at all. Business wallet money pays for pickups and plans and cannot be paid out to a bank account. |
| Collector earnings | Request a payout and wait for it to reach your bank account. Collector earnings are not a wallet: they pay out to a bank, and this is the money that route exists for. |
| A payout already under review | Wait for it to reach your bank account. Our team approves payouts, usually within a day, and the amount is held out of your balance until then. |
| Cash you collected for WasteAway | Request a payout, so the cash you are holding settles against your earnings. |
Stuck with a balance you cannot spend? Email support@wasteaway.ng with the subject “Wallet balance before deletion” and tell us the amount. We will work out with you what it can cover, including booking a pickup at an address you choose. What we cannot do is send it to a card or a bank account: WasteAway has no route that does that, for anyone.
It is also worth letting any pickup you have already booked finish, or cancelling it, so its escrowed money lands back in your wallet where you can still spend it, rather than moving after you have gone.
Deleting in the app
This is the fastest route, and it takes effect immediately.
- Open WasteAway and go to Profile.
- Scroll to Delete account.
- Confirm on the dialog that explains what is about to happen.
Collectors delete the same way, from the collector Profile screen. Deletion revokes every signed-in session at once: the device you delete from signs out immediately, and any other device still signed in loses access within minutes.
Deleting without the app
If you have already uninstalled WasteAway, or you cannot get into your account, ask us directly:
- Email privacy@wasteaway.ng with the subject “Delete my account”.
- Include the phone number the account is registered to.
- We confirm the request with that number before we act on it, so nobody can close your account with an email alone.
We complete verified requests within 30 days, the response window the Nigeria Data Protection Act gives us, and email you when it is done. If the account still holds a balance we will tell you which one it is and how to clear it, because the deletion cannot go through until it is at zero.
What is deleted
Immediately, and permanently:
- Your name, your email address and your profile photo.
- Your identity-verification details, including the ID type and the last digits we held, along with your verified badge.
- Any collector or administrator role on the account, and the link to a collector profile.
- Every sign-in session, on every device: revoked at once, with any still-open app losing access within minutes.
Deletion is final. That phone number can no longer sign in, and it cannot be used to create a fresh account: signing in with it returns “this account has been deleted”. If you want to use WasteAway again later on the same number, write to support@wasteaway.ng and we will sort it out with you.
What is kept, and why
What survives is the accounting trail, and only the accounting trail. None of it is linked to a usable profile any more, none of it is used to market to you, and none of it is sold.
| Retained | Why we cannot simply erase it |
|---|---|
| Payments, refunds, payouts and buy-back settlements | Money movements are recorded in an append-only ledger. Nigerian tax and financial regulations require us to keep these records, and an accounting ledger you can edit is not an accounting ledger. |
| Collection records tied to those payments | A payment is only auditable next to the job it paid for: the date, the price parts, the verified weights on a buy-back, and the proof photo the collector took. |
| Your phone number on the closed account | It is the account key. Keeping it is what stops the number being recycled into your old account, and it keeps the retained financial records attributable. |
These records are kept for as long as Nigerian tax and financial regulations require, and then they go too.
How long it takes
- In the app: immediate. Your personal details are scrubbed and your sessions end as you confirm.
- By email: within 30 days of us confirming the request is yours.
- Financial records: retained for the statutory period, then deleted.