Why Choose a Certified Shredding Company?

Why Choose a NAID Certified Shredding Company?

Even as the world becomes more digital, paper documents and files still exist. These documents often contain sensitive information that shouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. When it’s time to dispose of paper documents, you are required do so in a way that protects confidential information. One secure disposal option is to work with a reputable shredding company.

When selecting a shredding company in Washington D.C., it’s important to look for AAA Certification by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID).

Enlisting a shredding company with NAID AAA Certification is the only way to ensure the security of your shredded documents. A current AAA Certification means the company complies with the industry’s highest standards.

What Does a Commercial Shredding Company Do?

A commercial shredding company destroys documents. It can also destroy electronics and media, such as CDs, hard drives, ID badges and product prototypes. Secure document shredding allows companies to protect confidential and sensitive data, whether it’s financial records, legal papers or a not-yet-released product design or update.

The services offered by a reputable shredding company may vary. One option is on-site shredding. With an on-site shredding service, the company visits your location either on a one-time basis, or a recurring service basis.

During the visit, the shredding company collects any documents and media you need to destroy. It then shreds the media curbside at your location. On-site curbside shredding gives you peace of mind that your sensitive data isn’t being transported away from your company. A representative from your company can watch the entire process to ensure all your documents and media are destroyed.

Off-site shredding may be appropriate for companies that have accumulated massive amounts of documents and electronic media. You’ll bring your sensitive materials to the shredding company for destruction or arrange to have the company pick up your media and documents and transport them to the shredding location.

Businesses aren’t the only ones who require shredding services. A reputable shredding company can also work with individuals. Often, an easy way for individuals to safely destroy sensitive documents and media is by bringing their documents to a shredding event. During the event, you can watch the shredding company destroy your files. The cost for a shredding event is determined by the box.

Commercial vs. In-HouseShredding

You can easily buy a shredder and install it in your office or home. Why should you bother to hire a shredding service? While at-home or in-office do-it-yourself shredding can seem cost-effective, it has notable drawbacks compared to working with a professional shredding company.

• Reduced productivity: If you take on the responsibility of shredding documents and media on your own, the shredding requirements can eat into your team’s productive time. Your team may also decide that shredding is low on their list of priorities, causing sensitive materials to pile up.
• Shredder maintenance: Office and home paper shredders tend to jam, often because people shred too many documents at once or try to shred materials that shouldn’t be shredded, like paper clips or staples. When enlisting a commercial shredding company, there is no need to remove those items from the files.
• Limited security: A DIY shredding solution is considerably less secure than working with a NAID certified shredding company. You may not have a secure chain of custody with a DIY solution. It’s also possible for thieves to break into dumpsters and attempt to reassemble documents.

When you work with a NAID certified, shredding company, your team can focus on what matters most to your business. You also don’t have to worry about confidential documents and files piling up at home or in your office. A reputable NAID AAA Certified shredding company provides you with documentation verifying the destruction of your documents in a manner that complies with various federal regulations.

What Does NAID AAA Certification Mean?

To ensure the security of your sensitive documents and your clients’ private information, this elite certification demands strict compliance with standards for:

• The document destruction process and destruction equipment
  Operational and facility security
• The unreadability of shredded particles
• Employee screening and hiring – including pre-employment and random drug testing
• Insurance requirements – including $2,000,000 in general liability coverage
• Confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements for employees

Compliance is verified by an independent Certified Protection Professional® (CPP). To maintain our certification, TrueShred passes annual audits and unannounced audits on an ongoing basis.

Note: There are some shredding companies out there that claim to be NAID AAA Certified but are not. You can verify their claim by looking them up on the NAID website. Here’s our official certification.

When you work with a shredding company with NAID AAA Certification, you can be confident that your documents and media will be completely indecipherable after the destruction process. A portion of the auditing involves assessing the particle size of documents that have been destroyed. Particle size plays a role in determining whether a document can be reconstructed.

The chain of custody is a critical part of certification. When you work with a NAID certified company, you can be rest assured that your confidential data and material remains confidential.

Why Secure Shredding Is so Important

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), discarded paper is one of the principal sources of information for identity thieves. Secure destruction of sensitive material helps you and your company avoid risks like:

• Loss of trade secrets
• Fraud
• Embarrassing publicity
• Litigation, fines, and penalties
• Identity theft
• Damage to your reputation

Working with a shredding company also has environmental benefits. It keeps paper out of landfills and ensures that the material is properly recycled. Secure destruction of media and electronics allows the material to be recycled rather than put into landfills.

As far as personal documents are concerned, we recommend that you destroy any paper that has even a minimum of personal information on it. Identity thieves are clever and can gain a great deal of usable information from documents like:

• Medical/Dental Records
• Resumes
• Used Airline Tickets
• Bank and credit card statements
• Expired ID cards
• Canceled or voided checks
• Junk mail, including credit card and bank offers
• Tax returns
• Insurance documents
• Pay stubs

So when it comes to your company’s data security and the safety of your personal information, there’s no question—you’ve got to hire a shredding company certified in the highest level of security standards.

The Most Secure Document Destruction Option: On-Site Shredding

TrueShred shreds exclusively on-site at your location. On-site shredding reduces risks by confining the chain-of-custody to your site. You are even encouraged to witness the entire shredding process via a closed circuit monitor. Certificates of Destruction are issued to validate your compliance with internal control procedures and legal obligations to your clients.

TrueShred ensures an unbroken chain-of-custody for your sensitive information. The chain begins when you or your employees insert confidential papers into the locked TrueShred Consoles or Bins. Based upon a predetermined schedule, a trained and bonded TrueShred professional arrives at your office and brings your Bin or Console curbside to our shredding truck. The Bin is inserted into the Bin tunnel and automatically lifted inside the truck to shred your documents. Shredded paper is mixed with other shredded material making reconstruction virtually impossible. Your material is never directly handled by TrueShred during this entire process.

Call TrueShred today at (888) 559-1928 or fill out a contact form to learn more about our NAID AAA Certification and to schedule service.