Frequently Asked Questions

1. What types of materials do you shred?

We shred documents of all kinds: legal documents, medical records, receipts, personnel files, bank statements, anything containing confidential information. We also shred hard drives, x-rays, and photographs. Click here for a complete list of items we are capable of shredding! 

2. We have an office paper shredder. Why should we outsource our shredding services?

Internal personnel should not be responsible to destroy certain information. Your company documents contain confidential information, and it is your responsibility to make sure that information is destroyed securely. Because none of our staff touches your documents, you know that all of your competition-sensitive information or customer-sensitive information is protected. Aside from being cost effective, all of our shredded documents are sent to Pioneer Paper Stock Company in Minneapolis. All paper is bailed by Pioneer and shipped to paper mills in Wisconsin. 100% of the paper we shred is recycled this way, being turned into products such as paper napkins, toilet paper and “blue” shop towels. We are proud to say we are a truly green company.

3. What is the difference between recycling and shredding?

There is no fiduciary responsibility inherent in recycling. Paper is given away or sold by the recycling company and when you give them your document, you give up the right to say how they are handled. The choice of recycling as a means of information destruction is undesirable from a risk-management perspective. Shredding, on the other hand, destroys any and all information. Our Hammermill shredding system guarantees that all paper shards will be less than 5/8”, creating a secure way to dispose of your information.

4. How is the information kept safe before it is shredded?

All of our containers are equipped with locks. Only a Shred-N-Go Security Operator or a selected employee will have a key for the lock. Our trucks are equipped with a lift that transfers documents from the containers directly to the shredder. This secure process is defined as “Chain of Custody”.

5. We are required to store our records and don’t need to shred.

Every business is required to destroy stored records after a certain retention period; it is the law. In fact, keeping records beyond their retention period puts you at risk of non-compliance. The only acceptable method of discarding stored records is to ensure their information is obliterated. With our Certificate of Destruction, you have an exact date of destruction for legal purposes. For a copy of a retention schedule, or to learn more about records management, visit Larson Records Management.

6. We are a small office and/or don’t have documents that need to be shredded. Why do we need a shredding service?

Per the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) Disposal Rule, ANY and ALL businesses that maintain or otherwise possess consumer information, or any compilation of consumer information, derived from consumer reports for a business purpose, must properly dispose any such information or compilation.

Without a program to control it, the daily trash of every business contains information that could be harmful. Whether you know it or not, you have an implied contract to protect information simply based on the fact that you are collecting data to conduct business.