Is Document Shredding Eco-Friendly?

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.

Many companies are well aware of these facts and are doing everything that they can to reduce their carbon footprints. However, one area that often gets overlooked is document destruction. In order to ensure that your company’s sensitive information and data does not fall into the wrong hand, document shredding is critical. Hiring a reputable shredding service that offers on-site shredding saves companies a lot of time, money, and effort that it would take to shred and dispose of their own documents.

But what happens to those shredding remains? Before you hire a shredding service, find out what they do with the shredded documents. The good news is that there are a lot of eco-friendly document destruction companies. As you weigh your options, look into the following factors.

What does Document Destruction have to do with Recycling?

Document shredding services do a number of different things with the remaining shreds. One option is to sell them to paper recycling companies that use it to create new paper goods. Some services even partner with non-profit organizations and donate part of their recycling profits to them.

Some shredding companies schedule their pick-up routes according to scheduled relocations projects. This practice ensures that there are no wasted trips. Each time a truck heads out for a job, it comes back with a load of shredded paper that can be recycled.

While community events are not a requirement for a document shredding service, they are certainly a plus. Individuals are also susceptible to identity theft and must take proper measures to reduce the risk. The programs, presentations, resources, and workshops that document destruction companies put together are highly beneficial for the general community. People learn about solid waste technologies and the advantages of waste reduction practices including recycling, reusing, reducing, and buying recycled items.

When you’re in the market for document destruction in Amarillo, Texas, contact UCI. We strive to reduce our carbon footprint with all of our copying, printing, and scanning products and services, including document shredding. UCI recycles all of its paper to be turned into paper again. Call 806-372-7722 to speak to one of our professional, friendly representatives about our state-of-the-art document destruction services.