If piles of documents have accumulated in a corner of your house or office over the years, you should consider protecting your identity and information of clients or others mentioned by shredding the documents you no longer need. Paper shredding and recycling services help you dispose responsibly and safely of sensitive documents. Owning a personal shredding machine is one option, but a number of alternative paths to shredding and recycling your papers exist.
Mobile Shredders
The Wall Street Journal reports that for small business owners the time required to shred papers individually or several at a time is an incentive to outsource shredding. Mobile shredding units in large vans can churn through 6,000 pounds of paper per hour, while certifying destruction of the documents or letting you watch for yourself on a video camera. Costs for mobile shredders range from $150 to $250 an hour depending on the volume and your distance from the shredder. In Westchester County, New York, the county owns its own shredding units and stages nearly 200 shredding events annually.
Special Shredding Events
Because not every household needs to purchase its own shredding machine to process a limited amount of sensitive documents, some counties host special shredding events on an annual basis. Similar to annual household hazardous waste drives, these events provide homeowners with a reliable way to destroy personal information each year. Shredders often donate their services as a means to get publicity and build ties with new private clients.
Recycling Category
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, shredded paper is grouped into the mixed paper category, which also includes magazines, junk mail and phone books. It is in a different group than office paper because shredding cuts paper fibers, so collection program coordinators should determine appropriate shred size with their local waste management body.
Environmental Benefits
Shredding and recycling paper benefits you and the environment. Recycling paper helps minimize the need to cut fresh timber for paper. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, papermaking processes using recycled fibers use less wastewater than papermaking processes using virgin fibers. So recycling your old paper means you're helping lessen the impact of papermaking on freshwater ecosystems that can be harmed by changes in water volume and by tainted wastewater.
Privacy Benefits
Paper shredding is one way to protect your personal information and prevent identity theft. If your Social Security number, address and full name can be discovered by a stranger, your identity is vulnerable. As such, financial records and any other paper containing personal information about account numbers should be shredded.
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