Why, When, and How of Product Destruction

Many organizations fail to recognize that their obsolete materials and outdated items can return to the marketplace. Every day, stolen branded items and proprietary materials are recirculated on the grey market. Defective, discontinued, and outdated products can be a liability to your brand and reputation. In this blog, we explain the why, when, and how of product destruction.

Why Product Destruction is Important

You may have spent thousands of dollars building your brand and trademarking your products. Eventually, you may have materials that must be removed from the supply chain. Securely destroying these items protects your branded items from re-entering the marketplace and increasing your company’s liability exposure.

Companies that have manufactured products recalled by the following government agencies must remove them from supply chain:

• The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSA)
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
• National Highway Traffic Safety Commission (NHTSC)

Product destruction is not limited to manufactured products. Items including company uniforms, name badges, branded access cards, etc. should be destroyed in a secure and certified manner to protect your business from reputational harm.

When Product Destruction is Necessary

To avoid non-compliance penalties and potential lawsuits, defective, discontinued, and expired products should be removed from distribution immediately. Partnering with an experienced product destruction provider is the first step to ensure that your obsolete and discontinued items are disposed of in a prompt and verifiable manner.

How Product Destruction Works

When you partner with a reputable and experienced product destruction company, here’s how it works:

1. A professional information destruction specialist analyzes the scope of your project and assesses the legal and regulatory factors that impact your business.
2. Your specialist helps you schedule a convenient destruction date.
3. On the day of your scheduled project destruction project, a security-screened shredding and destruction technician arrives at your business. They collect your items with a secure chain of custody and transport them in a locked, GPS-tracked vehicle to a shredding plant for destruction.
4. After your project is completed, your product destruction provider issues a Certificate of Destruction. This document proves your compliance with state and federal regulations. Barcodes and SKU numbers can be added to the Certificate of Destruction for added audit compliance.

As you can see, product destruction can protect your business from liability and a damaged brand. Rest easy knowing your products have been securely destroyed.

Richards & Richards is proud to offer shredding and destruction services for businesses throughout Nashville.

For more information about our product destruction services, please call us at 615-242-9600 or complete the form on this page.