Is shredding the right choice for my confidential materials?

You may be asking yourself, “is shredding the right choice for my confidential materials?”. We’re here to ease your mind.

When it comes to any piece of confidential or personal information, it needs to be destroyed securely. The easiest way to do this is through shredding. If you’ve never used a shredding service before or had to destroy anything confidential, you may have some worries about whether shredding is the right option for you.

Anxious about throwing things away?

For some of us, throwing away potentially confidential materials is difficult! You may be unsure whether items should be kept, and fearful of making the wrong choice. Our useful help guide gives you the basics of what you need to know regarding what information to keep and what to destroy. Be wary, there are also some things you should never destroy.

Maybe you just don’t have the time to manually shred thousands of pieces of paper. Or, with personal information, you may be uncertain about data protection regulations. Or, maybe, you’re simply just worried about causing environmental damage. When you outsource your data destruction to a fully accredited provider, you can remove many of these concerns. Here’s a video to show how most shredding services will work.

At Shred Station, we are very experienced in handling all sorts of confidential materials and have the accreditations to prove it. We help everyone with their shredding requirements, from individuals with a single bag to shred, all the way up to national multi-site businesses and government buildings. We also assist many people suffering from hoarding disorders who have taken the brave step of asking for help. Our operatives are professional, kind, empathetic, and have incredible knowledge about what can and cannot be destroyed. We also care a great deal about our environmental impacts. We are a Zero to Landfill company, have been CarbonNeutral® certified since 2019, and 100% of the paper we shred is recycled at UK mills. If you want to ask us some questions before committing to a service, we are more than happy to help.

You should be proud of your shredding!

Individuals and businesses need a way to securely destroy confidential materials. That’s just a fact. But in films and television, shredding is often portrayed as something secretive that corrupt businesses or government agents do to destroy evidence of wrongdoing. In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

We don’t think ‘shredding’ is a dirty word. Companies and individuals should be proud to shred their data! By shredding, we demonstrate that we want to protect ourselves and others from the risk of data being lost, stolen, or otherwise mishandled. In short, we show that we care. By shredding, we also show that we’re prepared to dispose of materials in an eco-friendly way.

What are the alternatives to using a shredding service?

If you aren’t 100% sure about using a shredding service, you could use a home or office shredder. However, these machines require regular maintenance, can only shred a few sheets before they have to cool down and can be very dangerous – especially for children and pets.

There is also the issue of what to do with your shredded materials. Should you leave them outside in an unlocked bin? Probably not, as this leaves them exposed to the risk of theft. Are they mixed with tonnes of other shredded fragments as they would be with a shredding service? Again, no. Because the quantities are smaller per shred, the risk of reassembly is much higher. Are the fragments recycled? Maybe not – many councils do not accept shredded paper. It also takes a huge amount of time to shred in large quantities, especially if you have to remove paper clips, staples, plastic wallets and so on. If you’re a business, you also won’t have any proof that you’ve shredded your documents. When you use a shredding service, you’ll receive a Certificate of Destruction after every collection.

The other alternative is burning. While this would ensure your paper is destroyed, this is not environmentally friendly. It can also be very unsafe for both humans and wildlife, and because of that, fires may not even be permitted by your local council.

Overall, the best option is to use a reputable shredding service that will take care of all of your data destruction requirements for you.

If you need any help with your data destruction, feel free to get in touch today.

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