Whether you’re looking to clear out the office filing cabinet or you have a cluttered mess of old paperwork at home, you might be wondering what’s the best way to dispose of all your excess paper.
Should you burn it? Dissolve it? Recycle it? Take it to an industrial shredder?
In this post, we’ll take a look at the different ways to destroy large amounts of paper and which one is best for you!
Here are a few methods that are commonly used:
Burning
Burning your excess paper completely destroys any sensitive information that it may contain. However, this process is often time-consuming. Have you ever sat by a fire with a stack of paper to burn? Unfortunately, you can’t just throw it all on at once or else you’ll smother the fire.
Instead, you have to burn a few pieces at a time. This could take hours!
It also has a detrimental effect on the environment.
Not only does the process of burning paper release carbon dioxide into the air, but also any ink will result in the air being filled with toxic fumes.
Cutting
Some people believe that simply cutting their old documents up with scissors is enough to protect them from having their information stolen.
However, unless you spend hours cutting them into tiny pieces, there will always be the risk that someone can piece them back together again.
Also, if you have a large amount of paper to dispose of, this method could take hours, even days.
Dissolving
Another common practice for getting rid of old paper documents is dissolving. This could mean using water or a chemical like bleach.
While these methods can completely destroy your documents and prevent them from ever being read again, they can also harm the environment.
For example, when paper dissolves in water, the ink will leach out. So, unless you are extremely cautious about where you dispose of the resulting mixture, environmental damage may result.
Recycling
You could also decide to simply recycle your old documents. From an environmental standpoint, this is a great option! Recycled paper can be used to reduce waste and create new paper products.
However, from a security perspective, this might not be the best choice. If you deposit entire documents in the recycle bin without first destroying them, you risk having your sensitive information stolen.
Shredding Companies
Shredding companies can provide the best of both worlds.
That’s because they will effectively destroy your documents by using cross-cut shredding technology. Once the document has been destroyed, they’ll also recycle the paper residue.
This way, you eliminate the risk of having your sensitive information recovered while simultaneously doing your part for the environment. It’s a win-win!
Secure Paper Shredding in Edmonton
Are you looking for a secure paper shredding company in Edmonton? Look no further! The team at Western Archives can help you out with all your paper shredding needs. Not only do we have mobile units that can come right to your place of work, but we also have one of the largest document storage facilities in Edmonton.
Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help you!
