- Recycling, Shredding and Rendering Documents Unreadable, There is a Difference
- Shred Size / Particle Size is Important
- Strip Cut, Cross Cut, Rotary Grind
- Purge Campaigns, Eliminate Non-Essential Documents
- Certified Destruction
- On Going Document Recycling and Shredding
- HIPPA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach Bliley and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)
- Hard Drive Destruction, Degaussing and Computer Recycling
- About Us
Recycling, Shredding, and Rendering Documents Unreadable, There is a Difference
Recycling your company's outdated and unwanted paper is a great way to support your green initiative and to help the environment. The company's security must also be considered and any files or documents that are sensitive must be disposed of properly. Shredding offers a small amount of security to your company's old paper records. The shred sizes are usually very large and the pieces are kept together in bails that are sent to the mills to be recycled. However, if the documents are very sensitive and call for rendering them unreadable, then simply having them shredded is not enough. The particle size or shred size and chain of custody become very important for these documents. Another important fact to remember is that your company's responsibility does not end when you send the old paper out for recycling or shredding. The responsibility for your company's information remains with the originator; it does not get transferred to the recycling or shredding contractor.
It would be unwise to think that once a document has been shredded it has been rendered unreadable. People are surprised to learn that there are several companies in the United States that specialize in recreating documents from shredded material. These companies use bulk scanning and sophisticated computer programs to reproduce the shredded files and documents. This procedure is done more often than you think and has helped support many legal actions, along with supplying sensitive information to competitors.
When your company's security policy calls for rendering files and documents unreadable, it's important to monitor three important categories, shred size, chain of custody, and the security procedures of your vendor. High security and sensitive documents require a shred size of DINS level 3, 4 or 5. This shred size is increasingly harder to re create as you move from level 3 to level 5. The paper mills do not like the smaller shred size because it clogs their system. Therefore, in order to recycle your high security documents, mixing must occur. The mixing of small shred sizes with larger shred sizes occurs during the baling process and adds another level of protection for your documents. The mixing is typically done with another source of material and spreads the smaller shred sizes over several bales of paper.
How your vendor handles your material and passes it from one stage to another is also important. The chain of custody must be documented and should be inspected by someone at your company. Once the material is picked up from your company's location it does not mean you are no longer liable or responsible for the content of the files and documents. Your company is responsible for the content until the files and documents are pulped, incinerated or by some other method rendered truly unreadable.
The security procedures and environment that your vendor has in place are very important. Bonded employees, documentation of the destruction process, and internal security procedures should all be discussed with a potential vendor.
The J. D. Carton & Son, Inc. team understands all of your concerns and issues. We can set up a document destruction process that supports your company's initiatives. From staying green to rendering your high security documents unreadable, we are able to help. It starts with a brief meeting where we will discuss your goals and wishes. We will perform a free evaluation of your current situation where you will learn what you are doing correctly and where you may want to consider getting help.