Privacy Policy

Last updated May 23, 2018

The Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) is committed to protecting your privacy and developing technology that gives you the most powerful and safe online experience. This Statement of Privacy explains how EREF may collect, use and disclose information, including Personal Information we obtain through the EREF websites (erefdn.org and www.solidwastecourse.org) as well as information we obtain offline or in any electronic, written or oral communication, and governs data collection and usage. By using the EREF websites, you consent to the data practices described in this statement.

Collection of your Personal Information
EREF collects personally identifiable information and non-personally identifiable information and stores this information indefinitely. When we refer simply to the term “personal information” in this Privacy Policy, we are referring to how we collect, use or share all types of information that we collect. Personally identifiable information means information that is collected in conjunction with your name that alone or when in combination with other information may be used to readily identify, contact or locate you, such as your e-mail address, home or work address or telephone number. EREF also collects anonymous demographic information, which is not unique to you, such as your ZIP code, age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites.

There is also information about your computer hardware and software that is automatically collected by EREF. This information can include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring website addresses. This information is used by EREF for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the EREF websites.

Please keep in mind that if you directly disclose personally identifiable information or personally sensitive data through EREF public message boards, this information may be collected and used by others. Note: EREF does not read any of your private online communications.

EREF encourages you to review the privacy statements of websites you choose to link to from EREF so that you can understand how those websites collect, use and share your information. EREF is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on websites outside of the EREF and EREF family of websites.

Use of your Personal Information
EREF collects and uses your personal information to operate the EREF websites and deliver the services you have requested. EREF also uses your personally identifiable information to inform you of other products or services available from EREF and its affiliates. EREF may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of current services or of potential new services that may be offered. Access to most of the information available on the EREF websites does not require any form of registration, allowing you to visit our site without telling us who you are. However, some services require you to provide us with Personal Information. In these situations if you choose to withhold any Personal Information required by us, it may not be possible for you to gain access to desired information or for us to respond to your request.

EREF does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. EREF may, from time to time, contact you on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest to you. In those cases, your unique personally identifiable information (e-mail, name, address, telephone number) is not transferred to the third party. In addition, EREF may share data with trusted partners to help us perform statistical analysis, send you e-mail or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these services to EREF, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.

EREF does not use or disclose sensitive personal information, such as race, religion, or political affiliations, without your explicit consent.

EREF keeps track of the websites and pages our customers visit within EREF, in order to determine what EREF services are the most popular. This data is used to deliver customized content and advertising within EREF to customers whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.

EREF websites will disclose your personal information, without notice, only if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on EREF or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of EREF; and, (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of EREF, or the public.

Use of Cookies
The EREF websites use “cookies” to help you personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you personalize EREF pages, or register with EREF site or services, a cookie helps EREF to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. When you return to the same EREF website, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the EREF features that you customized.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the EREF services or websites you visit.

Security of your Personal Information
EREF secures your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. EREF secures the personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personal information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

Changes to this Statement
EREF will occasionally update this Statement of Privacy to reflect company and customer feedback. EREF encourages you to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how EREF is protecting your information.

Contact Information
You can contact EREF at any time to request access to information that EREF has about you, correct any information that EREF has about you or delete any information that EREF has about you. EREF welcomes your comments regarding this Statement of Privacy. If you believe that EREF has not adhered to this Statement, please contact EREF at 3301 Benson Drive, Suite 101, Raleigh, NC  27609, 919.861.6876 or foundation@erefdn.org. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly determine and remedy the problem.