April 22, 2025

How Your Business Can Safeguard Data While Sustaining the Environment

In today’s hybrid, digital-first world, the American workforce still uses a significant amount of paper, with the average office worker using nearly 10,000 sheets annually. This raises an important question: how is all that paper disposed of?

With Earth Day approaching, organizations have an opportunity to enhance both sustainability and security efforts. Ensuring confidential documents are properly destroyed before recycling may help protect sensitive information while also reducing environmental impact.*

Seven Reasons Why Document Security and Sustainability Go Hand-in-Hand

Here’s why every workplace should adopt a policy that includes both security and sustainability:

1. Compliance with Privacy Laws: Businesses bear a legal responsibility to protect private information, and non-compliance can result in substantial fines or even imprisonment. Privacy laws that require secure document disposal include:

• The Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA)
• The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)
• The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Services such as Shred-it^®’s ProtectPlus^SM provide employees with compliance training modules to help them understand privacy and security risks along with providing best practices to safeguard personal identifiable information from data breaches in both digital and physical environments.

2. Mitigating Data Breach Risks: Improper disposal of paper documents increases the risk of data breaches, potentially leading to fraud, identity theft, and other illicit activities. Partnering with a reputable document destruction service provider helps protect data from the moment a document is discarded in a secure container or tote to the moment it is shredded and responsibly recycled.
   
   To help ensure documents and information are protected, businesses should use a service that follows NAID AAA-certified processes, transports documents in GPS-equipped vehicles, and stores them in secure facilities before destruction. Additionally, they should receive a Proof of Service Certificate after each pick-up to verify secure collection.
3. Financial and Reputational Safeguards: IBM’s 2024 Cost of Data Breach Report found that the average cost of a data breach has risen to USD 4.88 million —a 10% increase from 2023. Beyond monetary losses, data breaches can negatively impact a company’s reputation and erode customer trust and loyalty. A recent Shred-it^® survey found that:

• 91% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that prioritizes data protection
• 81% would be much less likely to purchase from a company that has experienced a data breach.
• Reputations matter. Negative reviews from customers who have had a bad experience can have long-lasting effects. According to Review Trackers, 94% of consumers say a bad review has convinced them to avoid a business. All business leaders should understand the potential impact of negative reviews because of insufficient data protection.

4. Theft Prevention: Unfortunately, employee theft remains a risk. Companies can mitigate this risk by removing opportunities for internal bad actors to access private data by working with a reliable shredding service. With Shred-it^®, employees drop confidential documents in a securely locked console, preventing unauthorized access. This is a more secure alternative to traditional recycling bins, where anyone in the office could access discarded papers. Additionally, maintaining a clean desk policy can further reduce the risk of internal data theft.
5. Environmental Conservation: Recycling paper plays a key role in a circular economy, helping to reduce deforestation and preserve natural resources. By adopting secure document destruction and recycling programs, businesses can minimize their environmental footprint while enhancing security.
6. Waste Reduction: The sheer volume of paper waste underscores the urgency of effective waste management. A report found that about 110 million tons of paper and cardboard waste was managed domestically in the U.S. in 2019. Approximately 56% of paper and cardboard waste in the U.S. was sent to landfills each year. Without secure document destruction and recycling programs, employees may unknowingly throw sensitive papers into the garbage, increasing landfill waste and security risks.
7. Overall Environmental Benefits: Recycling paper yields a host of environmental advantages:

• Conserving natural resources
• Reducing energy consumption
• Lowering greenhouse gas emissions
• Forward-thinking companies can further enhance environmental stewardship by partnering with organizations, like Shred-it^®, that prioritize both security and sustainability throughout their supply chains.

How Working with Shred-it^® Supports Sustainability

Shred-it^® follows a seven-step destruction and recycling process:

• Employees drop confidential documents in a secure Shred-it^® console, which are locked and have a beveled slot to help prevent access to discarded documents.
• On a scheduled basis, Shred-it^® professionals empty the consoles. Collection bins are molded from 100% recycled HDPE plastic.
• A Proof of Service Certificate is issued after every pickup, confirming secure collection.
• Shredded paper is baled and sold as sorted office paper to be repurposed into new paper products.
• Recycling facilities turn shredded paper into pulp by separating fibers.
• Pulp undergoes a screening process to remove impurities and ink.
• Finally, recycled pulp is mixed with fresh pulp to produce new paper products.

Start Protecting Your Business

Learn more about Shred-it^®’s secure document destruction process and the paper shredding service options that best meet your needs. Together, we can embrace security, sustainability, and responsible business practices.

^{* Some local regulations may require the recycling of all paper with your local municipality.}

^{**This article is for general information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances.}