Mobile Paper Shredding
Did you know that (according to the EPA) 41% of all office waste is paper-related? The average office wastes around 1.5 pounds of paper per day! Recycling office paper is a simple and effective way to reduce waste. Placing a recycling bin inside of your office is an ideal way to get started. But, there are many additional ways to reduce office paper waste. Be proactive when it comes to protecting the environment by paying attention to these paper recycling tips.
- Reuse paper. Ask office employees to place paper that has only been used on one side inside of a special box or tray. When non-sensitive information must be written or printed, ask staff members to take paper from the stack of one-sided paper.
- Recycle Envelopes. When possible, reuse envelopes that have already been printed on. You can purchase address labels that can be affixed over an existing address.
- Take advantage of technology. Sending an email instead of sending a fax or memo takes less time, less paper, and will save on printing costs – make sure to recycle your e-waste too!
- Adjust font sizes. Make sure that all corporate paperwork is printed using the same basic font. By making the house font smaller and setting column widths a bit wider, you can cut back on printing paper.
- Cut back on mail. If your office receives mailers regularly, contact the National Waste Prevention Coalition. This organization will send you postcards (printed on recycled paper) that ask organizations not to send mailers to your office. You can also ask clients to send emails instead of letters.
Sometimes printing a letter or document is necessary. Purchasing recycled paper from the start is the best way to set a great office example. If your office is equipped with a kitchen, you can also purchase recycled paper goods. Recycling office paper doesn’t require much time or energy, but it will make a huge impact on the environment. Call Go Green Mobile Shredding today to turn your office paper into eco-friendly pulp. You can reach us at (877) 821-0217.
Today’s business managers and consumers are getting savvier about protecting their privacy and identity. But a heightened awareness of the importance of paper shredding has led to a few persistent misconceptions about data security.
1. Particle Size Matters Most
Well-intentioned office managers often presume that, when it comes to paper shredding or hard drive destruction, smaller particle size always equals greater security. While it is important for shredded material to be practically unreconstructable, there are other points of vulnerability to consider beyond the risk of someone piecing together shredded paper or electronics. This is why government agencies stress the process of data destruction, rather than the resulting particle size. Regulations focus on best practices for the collection, transport, processing and disposal of sensitive material.
Don’t be overly impressed by the size of the particles that any particular shredding company claimed to produce. Particles that are 1/26” aren’t inherently more secure than particles that are 1/32”. Instead, ask how secure their data destruction process is. A good way to measure that is to check for National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) certification. NAID verifies approximately 20 different aspects of a data destruction company’s process before awarding certification.
2. In-house Paper Shredding is Best
There’s a mentality that if you want something done right, do it yourself. But when it comes to data destruction, handling it in-house may actually leave you more liable. Shredded confidential documents in the dumpster behind your office building are easy targets for two reasons:
1. Dumpsters on public roads or even private alleys are easily, and in some cases, legally accessible.
2. Experienced dumpster divers know that shredded documents contain the most valuable information; that’s what they’ll grab first.
Outsourcing your paper shredding solves these issues by disposing your processed documents in a receptacle or facility that is not open to the public and by comingling your shredded documents with material from other clients.
3. All Paper Recycling is Secure
Many businesses have arrangements with recycling companies who buy their office paper, pick it up and take it to their facility for processing and baling. While these companies serve an important role for the environment, the purpose of this service is completely different from secure data destruction. This arrangement is purely for the sale of recyclables, and doesn’t account for the security of your company’s information. Sensitive documents could be compromised in transit to the facility or even at the facility by an employee. A more secure way to dispose of your recyclable material is to shred them on-site, right before your eyes.
Go Green Mobile Shredding is a NAID Member data destruction company that can shred your hard drives, digital media and paper on site, right in your parking lot. We issue a certificate of destruction documenting the secure processing of your materials and then bring them to a certified recycling facility.
Call Go Green Mobile Shredding today to learn how your office can protect its data and save the environment.
By now, most businesses and households are accustomed to recycling paper, cardboard and beverage containers. But don’t forget about DVDs and CDs. As many of us transition away from disc media like CDs and DVDs in favor of flash drives and other removable media, many optical discs wind up in the trash can, and ultimately, in the land fill. Compact discs and DVDs, however, are indeed made out of plastic. But unlike bottles and other containers, they do not include the chasing arrows and number symbol that indicates the type of plastic and whether or not it is recyclable, which leads many to believe that they are not. In fact, many curbside pickup recyclers do not accept CDs and DVDs. That’s because if they were to bear such a symbol, they would be shown as Number 7 plastics. Number 7 plastics, such as computer cases, nylon, 3- and 5-gallon water bottles and sunglass lenses fall into the difficult to distinguish “other” category.
If you’re a concerned parent, you may recognize number 7 plastics as the category to which polycarbonate products, including DVDs, belong to. Polycarbonate has been controversial lately since studies show that they leach bisphenol A into food and water. Bisphenol A, or BPA, has been shown to be harmful to infants and fetuses. Because of this, it is particularly important to keep number 7 plastics out of landfills and dispose of them sustainable so that they do not contaminate water that can eventually cycle back into habitats or drinking water supplies.
At Go Green Mobile Shredding, we shred and recycle all types of e-waste and digital media, including CDs, DVDs, hard drives, tape drives, floppy disks, zip disks and Blu-ray discs. This is not only greener for the Earth, it’s safer for your colleagues and customers. CDs and DVDs, even heavily scratched or damaged CDs and DVDs, contain readable data that is physically etched into the media. A persistent identity thief could extract data from optical media and recover personal information from it for unscrupulous means. So, when you shred your CDs, DVDs, hard drives and other e-waste, you’re not just helping the environment, you’re protecting the privacy of your community members.
If you’re interested in doing more to conserve the environment and keep your sensitive data secure, give us a call at (877) 821-0217 and ask about our on-site mobile shredding.
It feels good to see less paper in the trash can. And one of the ways that many offices and households are cutting back on paper is by going digital with their records, shopping lists and, of course, their correspondences. But is going paperless actually good for the environment?
The short answer to that question is: Yes. Of the three R’s of waste hierarchy, reduce is number one, followed by reuse and recycle. Using less paper means fewer trees are harvested, less energy is consumed and less landfill space is used for the production and disposal of paper products. But that’s not the whole story.
Implicit in the noble cause to use less paper is the assumption that digital media is more sustainable than paper. That is only partially true. While each email you read on your computer or smartphone doesn’t amount to a sheet of paper in the recycling bin, the impact on the environment is far from zero. Think of your digital media—including hard drives, floppy disks, CDs and DVDs, tape drives, CompactFlash cards, SD cards, thumbdrives, etc.—as pieces of paper that you can use and reuse thousands upon thousands of times before it wears out. But what happens when it does?
If you end up tossing your laptops, cell phones, computer monitors, old projectors and other electronic equipment into the dumpster, you may be undoing most or all of the environmental benefits you’ve realized by saving paper. Not to mention that in California, you’d be breaking the law. That’s because electronic waste—more commonly referred to as e-waste—is even more dangerous and harmful to the environment than paper. E-waste contains heavy metals and other toxic components that leech into the ground and contaminate ecological habitats and water sources. In the U.S., an estimated 30 million computers are discarded each year, with only 15 to 20 percent of the nation’s e-waste being recycled, according to the EPA. Californians Against Waste estimates that about 70 percent of all heavy metals found in landfills comes from e-waste.
The moral of the story: Yes, go paperless. Reuse scrap paper from the copier and of, course shred and recycle your office paper. But don’t forget to recycle your e-waste, too.
At Go Green Mobile Shredding, we can help you securely and sustainably dispose of all of your electronic waste. We can shred your hard drives right in your parking lot and issue a Certificate of Destruction for your peace mind. We can also take computer towers, monitors, laptops, cell phones and other e-waste off your hands and make sure that it’s recycled in an environmentally-friendly fashion.
Thanks for doing your part for the planet!
P.S. Also, remember that electronics use electricity—much of which is sourced from unsustainably mined coal. Cutting back on electricity usage and supporting clean energy are key components of making digital media greener.
Do It Yourself Paper Shredding Risks
Shredding paper seems like a simple task—especially when you can pick up an office paper shredder at any big box store. Operating a small paper shredder requires about as much technical expertise as running a copy machine, which convinces many managers to relegate the task of shredding sensitive documents to menial office laborers. But your internal document destruction procedure may not be as secure or cost effective as you think. Here’s why:
Paper Shredding on the Clock is Costly
When factoring in the costs of handling paper shredding on-site, you have to consider the payroll costs in addition to the equipment costs. That shredder may have only cost you a few hundred dollars, but how much is that high level employee getting paid to shred papers for eight hours every week? This is a classic case of wasted resources.
Low Level Employees Can’t Be Trusted
As a solution to the cost effectiveness conundrum above, managers may opt to charge interns, temps or part-timers with the task of shredding paper. However, these workers have the least loyalties to the company and may opt for short cuts (i.e. putting it in a dumpster rather than shredding it) or other ambitious applications (i.e. selling information to competitors or the media).
Disposal Must Be Documented
To properly cover your bases and protect yourself from liability, destruction of confidential documents should be documented. This includes: the date and time of the destruction, the means of destruction, the place of destruction, the name of the person who performed the destruction and the signature of a manager verifying the destruction. With these added logistical duties, the task of shredding paper becomes all the more time-consuming and complex. And if you forgo these steps, you won’t be doing your due diligence in protecting the privacy of your company and clients.
Underpowered On-Site Shredders are Less Secure
Although shredded documents are more difficult for would-be identity thieves to read, a determined criminal can piece together information from shredded paper using scanners and software. This is especially feasible when the shredded paper hasn’t been intermingled with other documents. Furthermore, most office shredders cut the paper into strips. A more secure method for shredding paper is to pierce and tear the paper into tiny, irrecoverable pieces.
Shredding On-Site May Be Unsustainable
Because shredded paper is ungainly and difficult to handle, many municipal recycling facilities won’t accept shredded paper for curbside pickup. Because of this, many business owners choose to dispose of shredded office paper instead of recycling it, which equals a significant missed opportunity for the environment.
Contrary to popular belief, tasking one or more of your own employees to handle paper shredding is neither a shortcut nor a cost-saving measure. At Go Green Mobile Shredding, we can offer you affordable on-site shredding that is more secure, faster and easier than the vast majority of DIY shredding schemes.
Call (877) 821-0218 to find out how we can save you time and money.
