Frequently Asked Questions
1. We use a recycling company, so why would we need a document shredding service?
Services supplied by recycling companies focus primarily on recycling. They are not designed to provide security of your confidential waste or comply with privacy legislation regarding document shredding. Your documents are transported away from your office intact, and generally hand-sorted to ensure quality of recycled materials. So if an accident or security breach should occur before they are recycled, your private information is open to everyone.
At Shred-it, our primary objective is secure document shredding, but we also recycle all the materials that we shred into a variety of useful paper products. So if recycling is part of your organisation’s environmental policy, we can help you fulfil your green commitments. At the end of each year we provide our Regularly-Scheduled Shred customers with an Environmental Certificate indicating the number of trees saved by using Shred-it’s services.
2. We have an in-house office shredder, so why would we outsource?
Even if you currently handle your shredding in-house, cost savings can be made by outsourcing your document destruction to Shred-it. Organisations, large and small, can achieve around 17% productivity saving when using a professionally-managed document destruction service as compared to shredding in-house.
After all, time is money. When document shredding in-house, employees have to set aside valuable work hours to separate paper, remove paper clips and staples and actually carry out the shredding – time which could be better spent on more profitable tasks. And whilst an employee can take up to 5 hours to shred 25 kgs of paper, Shred-it can do the same task in minutes with no disruption to your business.
3. We store our records, so why do we need a shredding service?
All documents eventually outlive their useful purpose. Retaining documents for too long a period can actually put your business at risk of non-compliance with Irish legislation. It is good practice to establish a retention schedule for the length of time records should be stored, taking into account legal privacy requirements as well as the records’ usefulness to the business.
Once this retention period has passed, using a method of complete destruction is the only acceptable way of discarding of these documents. Of the complete destruction services available, shredding is the safest and most secure method to ensure that documents are completely destroyed.
Following each shredding service, Shred-it provides customers with a Certificate of Destruction to confirm the exact date and time of destruction, thereby guaranteeing the safe disposal of confidential materials – not only prudent but also a legal requirement.
4. What happens to the paper once it has been shredded?
All destroyed documents, shredded into confetti-sized pieces, are transported to a recycling facility. Once there, they are reproduced into items such as recycled household paper products, which are then returned to the marketplace.
5. How can we determine the environmental contribution of our shredded waste?
Shred-it is an environmentally-conscious company, which takes recycling extremely seriously. All paper that is confidentially shredded is forwarded for recycling and returns to the market as items such as newspaper or tissue paper.
Every year, our shredding customers receive an Environmental Certificate indicating the number of trees they have saved by using Shred-it’s services.
We can provide our customers with annual weight reports, which details the volume of paper destroyed and recycled in one year.
6. What size shred do you offer?
Shred-it Ireland destroys paper to DIN level 3 and DIN level 4 standards.
Our state-of-the-art shedders use crosscut shredding technology, which breaks up your confidential materials into confetti-sized pieces, cut to approximately 15mm. Our high security double shredders cut to approximately 4mm. This process of crosscut shredding offers greater security than conventional strip-cut shredders, which can leave important information visible even after shredding. In contrast, our confetti-sized pieces cannot be reconstructed, ensuring total destruction of your confidential documents.
Our unique shredders are extremely powerful (capable of shredding 1600kgs of paper per hour) and are designed to shred almost anything from electronics and fabric to metals and plastic. Whether you have CDs, videotapes, casino chips or even uniforms, we can shred them for you.
7. What constitutes confidential information?
We understand that all businesses produce different types of confidential waste, all of which could be extremely costly if they ever fell into the wrong hands.
Some examples of these confidential materials include:
8. Where do we store confidential materials which are waiting to be shredded?
We provide our customers with locked security consoles, free of charge, to safely store confidential waste before it is shredded. Designed to be conveniently sized and subtly shaded so that they blend in with any office space, our locked security consoles are placed in convenient locations throughout your workplace. Within these consoles sensitive materials are stored in specially designed security bags.
For added security, only one designated contact within your organisation has a key to access your consoles.
9. Do I need to sort my papers before they can be shredded?
No. You don’t even need to remove paper clips, staples or binder clips.
10. Is the shredding process secure?
Yes. All of our shredding takes place in a secured and caged environment to ensure maximum security. With our on site shredding services, the contents of your locked consoles are transported in a sealed security bag to our waiting shredding truck parked outside your office. There they are deposited directly into our specially designed crosscut shredders. No transfer of materials takes place before the shredding process.
11. How often do you come to shred?
As often as you need us to. Before your service begins, a Shred-it Sales Consultant works with you to agree a shredding schedule that is appropriate for your specific organisation and the amount of sensitive information that you produce.
You may require shredding on a daily, weekly, monthly, or even an annual basis. Whatever your requirements, the frequency of your shredding service can be modified to suit you.
12. What happens if our console is full before the regularly-scheduled service time?
Just call and we’ll be happy to organise an extra collection for you. If you find that you’re often filling your consoles before the next scheduled service date, we can provide you with additional security consoles or alternatively increase the frequency of your service.
13. When do I receive my invoice?
The invoice is provided after your shredding has been undertaken.
14. What size jobs do you accept?
No job is too large or too small. Whether you are a multinational corporation or a small home-based enterprise, we can provide the same quality service to your door.
15. What if I only need to use your service as a one off or just for annual clean-ups?
That’s no problem at all. Whatever your requirements, from daily shredding services to annual purges, we can meet your needs with the highest standards of security and compliance.
16. How often do your employees undergo training?
Comprehensive training is conducted both in a Head Office setting and in the field. The combination of these two methods means that we regularly retrain our staff about new aspects of our business so they can keep you informed of any changes that might be relevant to you.
17. Do you shred home-office or residential documents?
Shred-it offers shredding for home-office requirements within local communities.
18. How can I be guaranteed that my confidential documents have been completely destroyed?
Our state-of-the-art shedders use crosscut shredding technology, which break up your confidential materials into confetti-sized pieces, so they can never be reconstructed. During the shredding process, a representative of your business is welcome to come out to our specially-designed shredding truck to witness the process for added peace of mind.
At the end of each shredding service, we also provide customers with a Certificate of Destruction to confirm the exact date and time of destruction, thereby guaranteeing the safe disposal of all confidential materials.
19. Does Shred-it conduct background checks on its employees?
All of our employees are security vetted by An Garda Siochana. In Northern Ireland our Customer Service Representatives have undergone Counter Terrorist Clearance.
For added security, we are happy for our employees to undertake further record checks to meet customers’ specific security requirements.
20. Do you educate employees on legislative policies and procedures?
Yes. Shred-it maintains an in-house training department that is responsible for training our staff in all aspects of our business. Our staff receives regular training on the regulatory changes that may affect you.
21. I have offices in several locations; can you provide service to those locations as well?
Yes. Shred-it Ireland provides an all-island on-site confidential shredding service. We are sure to offer locally based shredding services no matter where your offices are located. In addition, Shred-it Ireland is part of the global Shred-it network, with 140 branches worldwide.
Argentina
Belgium
Canada (English)
France
Germany
Ireland
Luxemburg
Puerto Rico
South Africa
South Korea
Singapore
UAE
UK
USA