Paper Recycling Risks
Everyone has turned on the local news to see some local company that improperly discarded client’s files in the dumpster. Most of the time it is an employee who did not receive the proper training. Another poor business practice is recycling without destroying. We see it on a daily basis. Loading docks all over the city with unlocked recycling bins waiting for pick-up. These recycling bins are filled with company proprietary information along with their client’s personal and confidential information. Any individual walking the street has complete and legal permission to rifle through these containers and take whatever they find. That is not the only risk. You need to think about what the recyclers do with the contents of those bins.
Recyclers tell their clients that when paper is recycled it is destroyed during the process. This is true. What recyclers do not tell their clients is the route the paper takes to be recycled. Recyclers will send their transfer trucks around the city to collect paper deposited in their containers. The transfer trucks return to their facility where they unload the paper into the balers. Information is baled fully intact and staged for shipment.
China and Mexico are the largest purchasers of raw material to be recycled. Those bales with company and personal information land on the docks of foreign countries perfectly intact. You are probably saying “there has to be laws against such things!” We have many laws on how sensitive information is to be maintained and destroyed. From HIPAA, Gramm-Leech-Bliley, FACTA, Sarbanes-Oxley and HITECH, regulators have worked hard to protect the consumer. The fact is that many companies believe they are destroying because they have not been given the correct information in regards to recycling. There are plenty of good companies for Denver shredding services. Please visit http://www.naidonline.org/ to find a directory of companies. Shredding is very cost effective and not only protects your company, but it protects your clients who have put their trust in you.
