Shredding vs Recycling
Recycling does not mean Secure Document Shredding

Giving your confidential documents to a recycling company does not mean your private information is being handled and destroyed in a secure manner.

The only true way to destroy private document with confidential information is to shred them.  Shredding companies do recycle all of the paper they shred so you are helping the environment when you destroy your paper records with a professional shredding service.

So what is the difference?  Shredding company’s first priority is to protect your information so they shred your documents first before anything else is done with the paper.  Recyclers on the other hand, their first priority is to recycle.  To be successful they have to separate all of the documents by paper type so they can get the maximum value for the different types of paper they receive.  By doing this your documents are separated by paper type first before they are recycled.  So you don’t know how many people will have access to your information not to mention how long your documents will be sitting around before the recycler does something with them.

There is also a big difference with the containers that shredding professionals use compared with the containers used by recyclers.  Document shredding company’s use security containers that are locked to secure and hold your documents in until they are shredded.   Recyclers use containers that are open garbage containers that are just different colors to identify the different types of items to be discarded in them.  They are open and easily accessible by anyone passing by the containers.  If your documents are placed into a recycling container someone could walk by and remove them. The minute you place documents with private information on them in an unattended open container it is a breach of security.

The new trend with recyclers is now single stream recycling to make it more convenient for their customer’s by allowing them to put all recyclables in one container.  That means your documents, glass and plastic go into one container then they are separated later by the recycler.  This leaves your private information open for anyone to see when the recycler is separating the recyclables.  This is in no way a secure way to dispose of your confidential information.

Recyclers do offer a very valuable and important service to protect the environment by saving money, energy, and natural resources.  But recycling is not secure method to dispose of private papers and files, documents shredding is.  And it is important to remember that shredded paper is recycled it’s just securely shredded first.

FileShred provides onsite document shredding services in Connecticut to businesses and residents.  To get more information about our mobile shredding service give us a call today.  We will be happy to explain our services, answer your questions, give you a quote and schedule your paper shredding service.   We offer;

• One-time Shredding
• Scheduled Shredding
• Residential Shredding
• Community Shredding Events
• Hard Drive Destruction