Shred on Site

How does your business dispose of its confidential waste? If there is no specific process in place for this then it might be time to consider implementing one. There could be some serious consequences for not having the right safeguards and your business may suffer as a result.

UK law is pretty clear when it comes to data protection

Every document that contains any data that might be confidential, personal or sensitive needs to be properly disposed of to avoid your business falling foul of legal requirements such as those contained in the GDPR. Since 2018 there has been a lot more emphasis on companies taking responsibility for ensuring data protection, including through the document destruction process. Enterprises today now need to be able to justify, document and evidence decisions have been taken. These high standards mean that confidential waste disposal is vital if you want to avoid the fines and reputational damage that can result from poor processes.

Identity theft is on the rise

In fact, it is a serious problem and not one that relates only to individuals. For example, if identity thieves were able to get hold of data from your confidential waste they could pose as your business and interact with your customers, sell the information that they have about your organisation to a competitor or carry out physical thefts on your business premises by learning when they are empty through documents not properly disposed of. Confidential waste could also give someone access to passwords and usernames that would then allow them to break into digital systems too.

Confidential waste disposal has a lot of benefits

In addition to preventing identity theft and ensuring that your business is legally compliant, confidential waste disposal can:

• Help your business to be more environmentally sound, as shredded confidential waste can be recycled rather than ending up in landfill.
• Create more space in the building - instead of lots of dustry boxes containing confidential papers you will have empty rooms that you can optimise in other ways.
• Improve cost-effectiveness within the business, as you’ll no longer need to use your own staff for the shredding process. Instead, you can work with a shredding partner to ensure confidential waste is effectively disposed of and your staff can focus on the roles you hired them for.
• Ensure you preserve the trust of clients, employees and suppliers. All these relationships depend on trust, which is broken in a data leak. 

What does confidential waste actually look like?

This could be anything containing data. For example, it may be employee absence records, CVs and disciplinary reports or customer contact details, contracts and photo ID documents. Confidential waste might be your business tax returns, forecasts or budgeting documents, payroll information or charts showing the structure of your business. It could also include pricing lists and supplier information.

From legal compliance, to preserving the trust in your relationships with clients and suppliers, these are just some of the reasons why it’s so important to ensure that confidential waste is properly disposed of in your business today.

Get in touch with us today to request a quote for all your shredding needs, whether that’s a one-off service or setting up a regular service. Why not try our online tool.