- We use a recycling company, so why would we need a document shredding service?
- We already have an in-house office shredder, so why would we outsource?
- We store our records, so why do we need a shredding service?
- What happens to the paper once it has been shredded?
- How can we determine the environmental contribution of our shredded waste?
1. We use a recycling company, so why would we need a document shredding service?
Services supplied by recycling companies focus primarily on recycling. They are not designed to provide security of your confidential waste or comply with privacy legislation regarding document shredding. Your documents are transported away from your office intact, and generally hand-sorted to ensure quality of recycled materials. So if an accident or security breach should occur before they are recycled, your private information is open to everyone.
At Shred-it, our primary objective is secure document shredding, but we also recycle all the materials that we shred into a variety of useful paper products. So if recycling is part of your organisation’s environmental policy, we can help you fulfil your green commitments. At the end of each year we provide our Regularly-Scheduled Shred customers with an Environmental Certificate indicating the number of trees saved by using Shred-it’s services.
2. We have an in-house office shredder, so why would we outsource?
Even if you currently handle you shredding in-house, cost savings can be made by outsourcing your document destruction to Shred-it. Organisations, large and small, can achieve around 17% productivity saving when using a professionally-managed document destruction service as compared to shredding in-house.
After all, time is money. When document shredding in-house, employees have to set aside valuable work hours to separate paper, remove paper clips and staples and actually carry out the shredding – time which could be better spent more profitable tasks. And whilst an employee can take up to 5 hours to shred 25 kgs of paper, Shred-it can do the same task in minutes with no disruption to your business.
3. We store our records, so why do we need a shredding service?
All documents eventually outlive their useful purpose. Retaining documents for too long a period can actually put your business at risk of non-compliance with UK privacy legislation. It is good practice to establish a retention schedule for the length of time records should be stored, taking into account legal privacy requirements as well as the records’ usefulness to the business.
Once this retention period has passed, using a method of complete destruction is the only acceptable way of discarding of these documents. Of the complete destruction services available, shredding is the safest and most secure method to ensure that documents are completely destroyed.
Following each shredding service, Shred-it provides customers with a Certificate of Destruction to confirm the exact date and time of destruction, thereby guaranteeing the safe disposal of confidential materials – not only prudent but also a legal requirement.
4. What happens to the paper once it has been shredded?
All destroyed documents, shredded into confetti-sized pieces, are transported to a recycling facility. Once there, they are reproduced into items such as recycled household paper products, which are then returned to the marketplace.
5. How can we determine the environmental contribution of our shredded waste?
Shred-it is an environmentally-conscious company, which takes recycling extremely seriously. Every year, our shredding customers receive an Environmental Certificate indicating the number of trees they have saved by using Shred-it’s services.
Find out more about our environmental commitment.