On Site or Off Site Paper Shredding Comparison

All businesses and most individuals are inundated with paper.

Data destruction (paper shredding) is becoming a business essential. It is something that almost every business and even individuals are doing more frequently and in a larger volume. It is not good enough these days to simply “throw it away.”  Government regulations, identity thieves, and corporate espionage dictate the way we should dispose of much of our unneeded information.  Document handling should be a disciplined procedure. Data leaks can be happen very easily.  Some years ago I discarded several non confidential pages in my recycling box. I was still in my office when the “non English speaking” cleaning crew began emptying the trash in my office.  I suddenly realized the cleaner was reading the pages he had picked up from the box. It was a lesson for me that I do not know who is seeing my trash.

If you need to get rid of one sheet of paper, an inexpensive strip shredder would work.  For any sensitive document I would suggest a crosscut shredder.  But there is only rarely a single sheet.  .  Even businesses that scan virtually all documents into digital form end up with a lot of paper to shred.  While some documents are saved for backup evidentiary proof at least temporarily, eventually you will need to do something with all those files and notes.

Recycling is  much preferred today rather  than “throwing away.”  But just recycling or trashing brings us back to the problem: who might see or take that material for purposes that would get you into trouble and/or be illegal.  The answer is almost the same as for the single sheet: shredding or other destruction (burning?). Burning can be dangerous, environmentally unsound, and possibly illegal.  Doing your own shredding is messy and leaves trash that is not always easy to recycle.  Plus from my own experience, many of the “home and small business” shredders from office supply stores will burnout if used too much. This leads to the commercial shredding service option.

There are many commercial shredding services. They generally fall into either onsite shredding or off site.  Some people like onsite shredding because they want to witness the shred.  However onsite shredding trucks are generally noisy, may take up needed loading dock space, customer parking spaces, and puts out noxious exhaust fumes. Also opening bins or containers outdoors may lead to the blowing of sensitive documents or shred.  So I generally recommend offsite shredding as easier, safer, and greener alternative. Additionally, plant based paper shredding is generally about 30% cheaper than companies offering on-site document shredding.

Access Records Management (ARM) uses locked bins to collect and transport your shredable data.  ARM offers three bin options. The small bin will hold about 40 gallons, mid-size 65 gallons, and the large 90 gallons of paper shred.  These bins are locked when put on the users premises.  The small bins are permanent and the contents are transferred in the user facility to a locked transport bin.  The larger size bins are exchanged in the user facility and only opened in the secure shredding facility. ARM certifies its shredding in its secure facility. ARM will pickup and recycle a minimum of four 30 gallons bags of your internally shredded paper for a small pick-up fee.

If you’re concerned with privacy and liability, you can rest assured. Access Records Management, runs comprehensive background checks on all employees which include local & nationwide criminal checks. Pre-employment & on-going random drug checks, Credit report monitoring, as well as a MVR.(motor vehicle report)

This combined with our industry leading security ensures you never have think twice about  the shredding of your documents. From the moment the shred cart leaves your building, it is fully insured & secure with ARM.

So shred OFFSITE with Access Records Management!

To learn more, please call Access Records at 816.331.7200 or contact us today.