June 01, 2015

World Environment Day: How Shred-it’s Recycling Process Keeps Your Workplace Green

Office paper recycling is one of the easiest and most common ways a workplace can help protect the environment and do their bit for World Environment Day.

But does your recycling process also protect confidential information?

With the risk of security breaches at an all-time high, it’s important that every workplace prioritises data security, while making a commitment to green office strategies and initiatives such as World Environment Day.

World Environment Day (or WED) is a United Nations initiative aimed at encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment.  It is celebrated in over 100 countries and serves as the ‘people’s day’ for doing something positive for the environment, encouraging individual actions which collectively generate an exponentially positive impact on the planet.

The event provides businesses and organisations with a great opportunity to promote and expand green strategies. Shredded paper recycling, for example, saves trees. In fact, every two consoles of shredded and recycled paper saves one tree.

But the real win-win comes when a workplace partners with a reliable information destruction partner that provides a secure chain of custody from start to finish.

Here are a few ways that Shred-it combines recycling and information security:

  • All open and unsecured paper recycling bins in the workplace are replaced with Shred-it's locked consoles that are provided free of charge. Benefits: Unsecured paper recycling bins are an easy target for fraudsters and data thieves to steal confidential information. Shred-it’s consoles have a bevelled slot - rather like a post box - to ensure documents can't be retrieved. Plus, locked consoles help create a culture of security in the workplace.
  • Shred-all Policy is recommended for all workplaces.  Benefits: Research shows that a large proportion of data breaches are caused by simple human error. When the decision is made to shred all documents that are no longer needed, employees don't have to decide which are confidential and which aren't.
  • Only trained and security-vetted staff visit client sites to empty the consoles.
    Benefits: Clients are assured that personnel who collect their confidential documents can be trusted and have received extensive security awareness training as well as Certified Information Security Professional accreditation.
     
  • Paper documents are securely shredded using proprietary cross-cut shredder technology.
    Benefits: Cross-cut shredding is the most secure and efficient method of completely destroying confidential information prior to recycling.
     
  • The entire process is tracked with a hand-held scanning device and a Certificate of Destruction is issued after every shred. Benefits: The certificate provides audit trail proof of destruction and allows customers to keep track of document destruction for compliance and other document management purposes. 
     
  • Shred-it bales all shredded paper and sends it to a paper mill where it is pulped, impurities and printing ink removed, and the pulp is then used to manufacture new paper products. Benefits: Recycling paper rather than throwing it in the bin yields significant environmental benefits, including reducing carbon emissions, saving trees, and cutting back on water and other natural resource usage.

Make your business greener and more secure by following these other easy green office strategies.