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Paper Collection & Recycling"They are here to collect our paper... "
This is the comment we hear a lot when we attend a clients premises to collect the confidential paper from their offices, but do you know exactly what is involved in the collecting and processing of the paper you generate? There is a lot more to it than you think... with all the media coverage around Identity Fraud we have become a very valuable service and we take the security of what we do very seriously.
All of the staff in our business from the Managing director to the cleaner all have to pass a ten year vetting process. This is a very in depth check and should anything be found that leaves us with any doubt about the person then we do not employ them. So just getting a job with us is not easy, but does offer peace of mind to our clients.
So what happens to our paper?
Once our driving team have been given their collection route they call upon your sites in our highly secure vehicles. Our lorries have slam locks fitted to the rear compartments, so entry is impossible without the key. We also use full GPRS tracking systems so we can track the exact location of your confidential data. Once their collections are completed, we will return the data to one of our 10 Secure Destruction Centres across the country. All of our centres have extensive CCTV and building access systems and are locked down at all times so unwelcome visitors cannot get in. Once the vehicle has been parked inside the Destruction Centre, the confidential data is offloaded in a secure environment.
The warehouse team are responsible for ensuring the paper is shredded using our latest technology shredding and baling equipment. Our Operatives have extensive training to ensure the quality of the shredding and the safety of everyone involved in the process. The shredders will cross cut the paper so as it cannot be reconstituted into any readable form, your home shredder cuts into neat straight slices whereas the metal teeth on our machine will rip it into small random pieces. All of our machinery is designed to shred the paper to conform with the standards set by our governing body the BSIA and the new British Standard for security shredding (BS8470). We are lucky to have the current chairperson of the BSIA as our Commercial Director so we know what criteria we have to follow!!
Once shredded & crushed, the bales of paper are then stored in each depot ready to be recycled. We have a member of our team who co ordinates the shipping of our bales to Paper Mills who recycle the paper into toilet tissue and paper towels. The better grades of paper are converted back into office paper. This saves the need to use virgin pulp (new trees) and therefore is a great boost to the environment. Datashred on average produces from our ten sites 5,000 tonnes of paper per month and that equates to 60,000 tonnes per year!! That’s a lot of paper...
So next time you hear someone say they are only here to collect our paper you can tell them its not as simple as that and also every time they place paper into one of our units they are helping to save the environment and prevent Identity Theft. Now that’s worth knowing...
