Did you know that Americans throw out four million tons of office paper annually? When you pile up four million tons of paper, you can build a 12 foot tall paper stack that spans from the West Coast to the East Coast. For each ton of paper that a business recycles, they save four barrels of oil, 18 trees, 360 gallons of water, four cubic yards of landfill space, 60 pounds of air pollutants, 200 gallons of gasoline, 4,200 kilowatt energy hours, and ample energy to heat and air-condition a typical United States residence for half a year.

When companies simply tear up and throw away their documents, they put themselves at risk of someone retrieving and reading them. These documents often contain sensitive information such as company bank account details and client records that criminals can use to steal identities. Someone can break into a bank account or start using a credit card within minutes of stealing the information.