Your Paper Shredding Questions, Answered

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We receive hundreds of questions every month, and all of them are worth answering. In this blog, we’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked and answered paper shredding questions. We hope this provides you with a deeper understanding of document disposal risks and best practices.

Q: What should I be shredding?

A: As a rule of thumb, you should shred any document with sensitive financial or medical data and personally identifiable information (PII). Since every business has unique client and corporate information, consult with a shredding partner who can provide a guide for what to shred.

Q: Am I required by law to shred?

A: A handful of federal privacy laws, including HIPAA, FACTA, SOX, and GLB, regulate how employee and customer information must be destroyed and disposed of. Shredding prevents data breaches that can lead to costly non-compliance fines.

Q: How does a drop-off paper shredding service work?

A: You gather your documents and bring them to a drop-off shredding location where they’re destroyed. You’re charged by the pound and receive a Certificate of Destruction. Drop-off shredding offers quick and easy destruction of your unwanted documents.

Q: How is my material kept secure before it is shredded?

A: We supply our business clients with locked shred consoles at their facility, so employees can place documents in a secure container before a scheduled pickup. We will work with you to determine how many locked consoles you need at your facility, and then place them in convenient locations throughout the building.

For estimating purposes, we have provided capacity in terms of a standard “banker box” measuring 10”H x 12”W x 15”D :

• 64 gallon (holds approximately 6 standard banker boxes)
• 32 gallon (holds approximately 3 standard banker boxes)
• Console unit (holds approximately 2 standard banker boxes)

If you choose to drop off your documents for shredding at our facility, we keep them under lock and key until they are shredded, which is always done in a timely manner.

Q: Can your shred truck come to my house?

A: Maybe. Our residential clients use our services on a regular basis to securely shred financial and personal documents. Shredding confidential information is the ultimate preventive measure against identity theft. CI Information Management may be able to help you destroy documents stored at your home, whether they are business related or personal documents. Availability of this service will depend on truck accessibility at your residence, proximity to the existing service area, safe access to documents and your flexibility to accommodate our schedule. Minimum charges apply for this service. Please call 509-586-6090 for more information. Drop-off shredding services are available for your convenience.

Q: Can your shred truck come to my storage unit?

A: Yes. If your home or business documents are located in a storage facility that needs to be purged, we can help. Give us a call at 509-586-6090 for more information and an estimate.

Q: Why can’t I just use my office paper shredder?

A: Having your employees shred documents with an office shredder creates security risks and unnecessary overhead costs. Outsourced shredding is more efficient, secure, and cost-effective. A mobile shredding truck destroys hundreds of pounds of documents in a matter of minutes. It can even destroy staples, paperclips and small binder clips, so there’s no need to remove these from your documents. And we shred your documents into particles much smaller than an office shredder can offer, which reduces privacy breach risks.

Q: What is a Certificate of Destruction?

A: State and federal information privacy laws and industry compliance standards require businesses to document their records disposal practices. A Certificate of Destruction includes the date, location and summary of materials collected and destroyed for documented proof of your organization’s compliance.

Q: Are shredding collection containers secure?

A: Equipped with locks, shredding collection containers are designed to keep documents secure before they’re shredded. Once someone deposits a document inside, only someone with a key can remove the contents. When used in a scheduled shredding solution, shredding containers prevent unwanted, confidential documents from piling up next to printers, photocopiers and in other high-traffic areas where they may be stolen.

Q: What are NAID AAA Certified Shredding Services?

A: NAID stands for the National Association of Information Destruction, the standard-setting body advocating for best practices in secure data destruction. The NAID AAA Certification Program establishes standards for a secure destruction process in the areas of operational security, employee hiring and background screening, responsible paper disposal, and insurance coverage. When a NAID AAA Certified provider completes a successful audit, they receive a certificate showing their company name, type of operations, and the specific materials they are certified to destroy. Therefore, using a NAID AAA Certified shredding provider ensures your documents receive the highest level of privacy protection.

A: We recycle all shredded paper. Partnering with CI Information Management not only keeps your information secure, but also it helps keep this earth a little greener. Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. In other words, recycling is good for the economy and good for the environment. For more information, visit the National Recycling Coalition online at www.nrcrecycles.org.

If you have a document shredding question we haven’t answered here, please let us know. We love answering your questions!

CI Information Management provides document scanning solutions for businesses in Tri Cities, the Yakima Valley, Walla Walla, Hermiston, OR, Moses Lake, Wenatchee, and nearly everywhere in between. For more information about our document scanning services, please call us at 509-586-6090 or complete the form on this page.