This Year, Celebrate Earth Day with Document Shredding
April 22nd is Earth Day. It happens on the same date every year. It all began in 1969 when US Senator Gaylord Nelson brought attention to the negative effect modern life was having on the environment and decided this could be a teaching moment for our nation. 54 years later, Earth Day is become recognized worldwide. By celebrating this day, you join a billion people in 195 countries who also value the health of our earth.
There are many activities and events that help increase awareness and encourage us to make smart changes in our everyday habits to help protect the environment. Here’s our easy, two-step checklist for a greener business.
1. Reduce Your Paper Use
The easiest way to start is by reducing your use of paper. After all, “reduce” is the first word in the famous environmental mantra, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”! Try these ideas:
- Digitize as many documents as possible going forward. For instance, when a clients is required to fill out a form, allow them to use a digital form. Communicate with colleagues and clients digitally. Resist the temptation to print documents that don’t require a hard copy such as meeting agendas, presentations, and statements. Use email marketing instead of direct mail, and offer your client paperless billing if possible.
- When paper documents are required, print on both sides of the paper whenever possible. Use narrower margins to use fewer sheets of paper.
- Buy and use recycled paper for copiers, printers, notebooks, and sticky notes to reduce the use of trees to make new paper products.
2. Choose a Reputable Shredding Company
No matter how good you are at reducing your paper use, paper documents are an inevitable part of our lives. File cabinets and desks everywhere are full of paper documents, and they all have a lifecycle. The recycling bin may seem like the obvious choice for discarding paper documents, but that leaves you open to a data breach as anyone along the chain—from the waste management company to the recycling plant—can see the contents of those documents. As a business, you also have to comply with state and local data privacy laws.
To keep your information secure and protect the environment, work with a local, NAID AAA Certified shredding company that recycles 100% of the paper they shred. They will provide you with locked shredding collection containers to keep your documents secure until they are shredded within a secure chain of custody. When shredding is complete, a reputable shredding company should also provide you with a Certificate of Destruction so you have proof of compliance with all data privacy laws in case of an audit.
Richards & Richards is Nashville’s oldest NAID AAA Certified shredding company. We proudly serve the businesses and residents of this great city and communities throughout Central Tennessee. For more information about our services, call us at 615-242-9600 or complete the form on this page.
