Day after day, we hear from people who are tired of their paper jungle but don’t know how to solve the problem. Should they throw the “to shred” pile of papers into boxes? Garbage bags? Is it okay to toss them into their recycle bin at home?
First, it is of course fine to trash documents like your son’s Christmas list for Santa. Or Aunt Matilda’s awful green bean casserole recipe. When it comes to documents with sensitive personal information – yours, a family member’s, or a client’s – it is not okay to throw the papers in the trash or recycle bin. Period. End of story. And if you’re unsure of what constitutes a sensitive, confidential document, here is a list of documents that need to be properly, safely destructed.
Next, there is a simple way to tackle the problem of handling sensitive documents — short-term and long-term, at home or at the office.
Get a tote.
To clarify, we’re not talking about one of those little umbrellas that lives in your car, or the stylish, oversized bag many women carry around town. We’re talking about a large container that can comfortably live in your office, a closet or your garage that is an appropriate receptacle for sensitive documents that ultimately need to be shredded.
Here are the key features of a tote:
- A tote is heavy-duty. It can withstand very hot and frigid temperatures.
- A tote is like a trusted adviser. “He” is tight-lipped. Once you feed “him” confidential documents, they remain locked away – literally. Peace of mind is a big benefit to using a tote.
- A tote has a voracious appetite. For example, Paper Tiger Document Solutions’ small tote holds 200 pounds of paper. Its “big brother” tote holds 325 pounds. (Totes are very picky eaters, by the way. They only eat paper.)
You won’t find a tote of this type at the office supply or home improvement store. A tote is provided as part of document shredding services. For instance, at Paper Tiger, we will bring a client a tote and instruct them to call us to arrange for pick up when the tote is full and ready for shredding. If the client has more papers to shred, we deliver a new, empty tote at the same time. The process should be painless. (We pick up a full tote within 24-48 hours of a client contacting us, but from what we understand, this isn’t the norm for residential and commercial shredding companies.)
There are many shredding companies in the Chicago area to choose from, so select your provider carefully. At a minimum, make certain the company is a AAA Certified member of the National Association for Information Destruction. A AAA Certified member will guarantee that your documents will be securely, properly shredded.
Paper Tiger Document Solutions has been an NAID AAA Certified member since 2013. We handle residential and commercial shredding throughout the Chicago area and northeastern Wisconsin.
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