Are you looking for a document shredding company to properly dispose of the sensitive information that your business generates? If you’re taking the step to research the document shredding company that you hand your business’s critical information over to, you’re already showing good stewardship of the trust that your clients put in your hands when they give you access to their personal information. So, congrats.
However, handing sensitive information over to your document shredding company opens yourself up to an additional risk, as you have to trust your document shredding company to handle your documents properly and securely. If you choose an ill-equipped paper shredding company, you open yourself up to the risk of your sensitive documents to be compromised, possibly by the staff of the paper shredding service you hire to begin with!
Yes we just contradicted ourselves. What we’re trying to say is, using a trusted shredding service is great, but using the wrong service is not great. To help you identify the good ones, we’ve put together a list of what to look for in a paper shredding company:
Three Things to Ask Your Future Paper Shredding Service
- What certifications do you have?
Finding the right paper shredding service is not a “trust your gut” kind of task. All paper shredding services you consider are going to present themselves to you in a light that makes them look good. How can you tell the good ones from the ones who do not have their act together but present themselves as if they do?
Well, although a paper shredding service can put on a good charade even if they are running on the fumes of chaos in reality, being certified by a respected third-party cannot be faked. For example, if the paper shredding service you’re interested in is certified by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), you know that they meet strict guidelines and pass random audits that mean their procedures are up to par.
Some of the standards that NAID verifies in order to maintain their certification are:- The paperwork that is filled out to track the handling of every document disposal job is properly managed.
- If the technicians who handle the document destruction where a uniform and badge for every job (this is for the protection of the clients who hand their sensitive information over to the technicians. If they are accustomed to the techs handling their information in laymen’s clothes, there is no difference if someone not associated with the paper shredding picked up the documents).
- That the document disposal bins are locked throughout the entire process, until they are managed by a qualified shred technician.
If a shred company claims to have a certification with a nationally recognized paper shredder association, you should contact the association directly to verify it.
- Do your destroyed documents end up in a landfill?
After the documents that you hand over to your document disposal company have been shredded beyond recognition, what do they do with the paper waste? Some companies take their destroyed shreds of paper to their local dump, where it helps fill a landfill. Others have a recycling process that turns the paper waste into pulp, and then gives it another life as a new paper product.
You want to use a company who recycles their paper waste for more than one reason. First of all, humans make way more trash than we need to. Unless we change our lifestyles, our planet is going to turn into one giant piece of trash. Secondly,in order to be recycled, your sensitive paperwork has to be broken down so thoroughly that no technology would ever be able to put it back together. This is what we call a win-win. - Does your shredding take place on-site or off-site?
If the document handling company carts your sensitive paperwork off to another site in order to dispose of it, it adds a layer of risk in which your documents could be compromised. On the other hand, if the paper shredding company brings their agent of destruction to your business, and turns your sensitive trash into confetti right before your eyes, you can rest easier at night, knowing it’s been handled properly.
Finding the right paper shredding service is important, and following these steps will help you do that.
