Destroying large volumes of confidential materials

Tackling a mountain of paperwork, textiles or other materials can be daunting. If you have large volumes of confidential materials to destroy, you may wonder what the best solution is. We’re here to help.

How do you destroy a large amount of paper?

If you have a large amount of paper to destroy, it will be extremely time-consuming to go through every single piece and separate non-confidential paperwork from confidential. You’d have to make a decision for every single sheet – recycle or shred? But even a single sheet containing personal information could spell disaster if put into an incorrect bin. Unfortunately, it’s also time-consuming to shred even moderate volumes of paperwork using a small home or office shredder. Often these small machines can only destroy a few sheets at a time. They also usually need to cool down after mere minutes to avoid overheating.

So, what’s the solution?

The best way to destroy a large amount of unwanted paperwork is to use an industrial shredding service. Specialist shredding companies can shred bags, bins, and even skip-fulls of paperwork quickly and easily.

At Shred Station, our on-site shredding vehicles can shred around 600,000 sheets (160 boxes) of paper per hour. Our off-site shredders at our depots can destroy even more! You also don’t need to remove staples, paperclips, plastic wallets or even folders. Our industrial shredders can handle it all. With any reputable shredding company, you’ll also receive a Waste Transfer Note and Certificate of Destruction after every service.

The best part about shredding large volumes of paper?

It’s both secure and green when using the correct supplier. For instance, here at Shred Station, we recycle 100% of the paper we shred at UK mills and have a strict Zero to Landfill policy.

How do you destroy a large number of garments, uniforms, or other textiles?

It’s not always possible to donate old garments or other textiles. For instance, garments could be damaged, out of season, or unsuitable for sale. For high-end goods, donating or selling at low prices could even increase the risk of counterfeiting. If donating isn’t an option and recycling isn’t secure enough to protect your brand, the best way to destroy large volumes of textiles is shredding.

With work uniforms, the only real solution is shredding or incineration. If old uniforms are accessible to members of the public, anyone could imitate a member of your workforce! This could pose a serious risk of reputational damage. Imagine what could happen if an unauthorised person dressed up as one of your employees. They could use your brand to swindle innocent members of the public or businesses. They could even try to gain unauthorised entry to your own business premises!

What happens to the textile shreds?

The downside to textile shredding, and any method of textile recycling, is that blended textiles are extremely difficult to recycle. This is because natural fabrics like cotton and synthetic fabrics like polyester (made of plastic) are recycled in completely different ways.

At Shred Station, we recycle all shredded textiles where recycling is possible. Where it isn’t possible, we send shredded textiles to Energy from Waste facilities. Energy from Waste works by incinerating materials to generate energy for the National Grid.

How do you destroy a large number of hard drives?

Hard drives are very difficult to destroy without industrial equipment, even in small quantities. So, what should you do if you have hundreds, or even thousands, of hard drives that you need to destroy?

You guessed it. Shredding specialists. Most larger shredder companies can destroy much more than just paper and will have special industrial shredders designed to handle metals and other strong materials. At Shred Station, we can degauss and destroy hard drives both on-site and off-site. If needed, we can even detail the serial numbers in your Certificate of Destruction for your compliance records.

How do you destroy products in bulk?

There are many reasons you might need to destroy products in bulk. The items could be faulty, recalled, or simply just unsellable. If the items do need to be destroyed, the best two options are shredding and incineration. Shredding will protect your products from the risk of being stolen or resold, and incineration will divert product waste from going to landfill sites.

At Shred Station, we will recycle all shredded products where recycling is possible. Where recycling isn’t possible, we will use Energy from Waste. As mentioned, we have a strict Zero to Landfill policy for all items we shred.

What constitutes a large volume?

Asking what constitutes a large volume is sort of like asking the length of a piece of string. If it’s taking up valuable space in your home or office, a few boxes could seem like a large volume. From the perspective of a national shredding company, we would consider anything above a tonne a large volume. Regardless of how much material you have for shredding, we can assist. We treat all customers the same, whether you need one box shredded or one thousand.

Get in touch with our team today on 01603 558 184 and we’ll be able to answer any questions you may have.

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