What To Do Instead Of Shredding Paper And Why Shredding Is Best

What To Do Instead Of Shredding Paper And Why Shredding Is Best

What to do instead of shredding paper? Is shredding best? Should you destroy documents yourself or outsource document destruction?

With the increasing number of identity theft, you definitely don’t want to be careless when it comes to your confidential documents, in terms of both how long you wait to shred and how you shred. That is why you should always find ways on how to shred your confidential documents in the most secure way possible. Besides using a company shredder, there are other ways of how you can shred confidential documents and we will be sharing advice on them with you in this post.

Shredding Paper Without A Shredding Machine

Shredding Using Your Hands

The first option would be by using both your hands in shredding the papers. When using your hands and tearing the documents, it would be best to make sure to focus on the most sensitive areas. You need to make sure that you are reducing the most sensitive parts into unintelligible and small pieces. Once done, dispose of the shredded paper in different trash cans so putting them back together would be difficult.

Burning The Confidential Documents

If you are looking to keep those confidential documents secure, the best way to do it is by burning them into pieces. Throw the documents into the fire pit, and make sure to shred them first into smaller pieces beforehand. This will avoid bigger pieces of paper from flying away from the pit. When burning the confidential documents, make sure to do this in a wood stove or a fire pit. Lastly, make sure that creating such fire is not illegal in your area to avoid breaching any law.

Composting The Confidential Documents

Now, if you are looking for an eco-friendly way to get rid of your confidential documents without using a shredding machine, you can always compost the documents together with your coffee, food, and filters. You will have the documents break down in the compost pile, while performing an awesome role of making carbon available to your own compost. But make sure to cut them into pieces before you start composting them to help them break faster.

If your documents are glossy, or contain any toxic chemicals, it would be best to shred them in other ways as this type of paper can affect your plants in a negative manner.

Soak Your Confidential Documents

Another alternative is by soaking the confidential documents into a bucket of water. But this needs a lot of patience because the documents need to be soaked for at least 24 hours for them to become unreadable. After 24 hours, you can start thoroughly mixing the paper until they effectively break up. If you have done this in the right way, there shouldn’t be any documents left that are readable.

Redacting Your Confidential Documents

Before dropping your confidential documents in the garbage can, you might want to redact all the important information using a black marker. Black out all the areas with sensitive information and make sure to black it out from the front and the back. You can also use a puncher to put holes in your documents. But this method can be stressful so it would be best to only use it in documents that contain minimal sensitive information.

If you are going to opt for this method, it would be best to divide the documents into different garbage cans. In this way, intrusive elements won’t be able to connect the dots.

Why Shredding Machine Is Best

With all the alternatives above, it is safe to say that it is still best to use a shredding machine to get rid of any confidential documents. We keep files with sensitive content, including employee files, marketing plans, financial statements, bills, and even our delivery packages. Both private citizens, commercial organisations, and government offices will benefit from using a shredding machine because of how effective it is in getting rid of confidential documents. Here are some of the reasons why shredding machine is still the best method:

Law Compliance

There are laws that can penalise a person or an organisation for improper disposal of documents with confidential or sensitive content. Companies that hold personal information but fail to protect it face both legal and financial consequences. For example, employers are using paper shredding services to get rid of files that are no longer in use.

Preventing Identity Theft

Nowadays, identity theft is prevalent and it is increasing in huge numbers with the use of the internet. In fact, a delivery box with your name and address that is not disposed properly can already be at risk of identity theft. It is best for both individuals and companies to use a paper shredding service or machine to get rid of such information to avoid fraud and identity theft.

Protects Your Business

Using a paper shredding service will not only protect your business but also your customers. A single sheet of document is more than enough to cause you months of headaches and thousands of dollars. Shredding all documents with confidential or personal information is always the best way to ensure that they will never be compromised or stolen.

Increases Employee Productivity

Using the shredding alternatives mentioned above means wasting your employees’ time shredding papers instead of them doing the job that they are intended to do. It can also disrupt the work schedule of your employees, and it can be hard to focus on a certain task if your employees keep on going back and forth the shredder. Outsourcing a paper shredding service company will let your business and your employees to focus on completing the tasks that they are assigned to according to their schedule, and increase productivity in more ways than one.

Conclusion

While the initial methods of shredding paper are great alternatives, they are definitely not quick and efficient. The best way to get rid of confidential data is to outsource to a paper shredding company that will carefully take care of your confidential documents, while ensuring that you are complying with the law. Protect your company, and your sensitive information, by using a paper shredding machine that will efficiently and effectively get rid of all the paper documents that you have. Realistically, professional shredding services are best when you want fully compliant paper shredding done with documents.