Don’t Forget to Shred Copier & Printer Mistakes!

Last-Minute Report Due

On a Thursday afternoon I remembered I had to write a report for the upcoming General Annual Meeting by the end of the week. To help with my writing, I collected monthly reports to get the highlights of the past year.

Writing a report is time-consuming, but it’s encouraging to review the successes of the past year. After the first draft, I printed it for my colleagues to review and edit. They promptly returned their edited copies, allowing me to rewrite my report. After fixing a spelling error in the digital file, I reprinted my copy and sent the digital file to the Board.

Discovering the Problem

After filing my report, I accidentally tossed my last edit and my colleagues’ edited copies into the recycle bin. Realizing this, I retrieved them. That’s when I noticed other staff members had also discarded pages from copiers and printers with errors or jams, all containing private information.

Confronting the Problem

While we have a policy of protecting electronic data and hard copy documents, the everyday practice of discarding printing and copying errors had been overlooked. That day, we decided to implement strengthened policies about discarding documents:

1. A shred-everything policy, extending to all paper with printing, including rejects from copiers and printers.
2. Partner with a professional shredding company, ensuring compliance with privacy laws by thoroughly shredding all paper documents within a secure chain of custody.
3. Place shredding collection containers near printers and copiers to guarantee all paper goes to the shredder and is securely stored until disposal. We selected a reputable shredding company that provided shredding containers, a Certificate of Destruction, and ensured 100% recycling of our shredded material.

One More Edit

I added a note in my annual report about our partnership with a shredding company, and how that would improve our level of compliance.

Pacific Shredding offers a range of shredding services to suit your business needs. From scheduled shredding service to one-time purge shredding, we have a solution for you. Give us a call at 800-685-9034 or complete the form on this page for more information or to schedule your shredding service.