FAQ - Paper Shredding, Document Destruction, Hard Drive Destruction

Please click on a question to see the answer.

• What type of service do you offer?

  Paper shredding mobile services (at your facility).  Offsite Shredding (at our facility).  We shred your paper, checks, contracts, or any paper printed document.  We degauss hard drives and data tapes.  We shred hard drives and data tapes.  We shred and recycle X-rays, CD’s, retail merchandise, toys and books. 

  We also provide high security shredding that satisfies government DOD requirements.  We also offer compliance with NIST 800-80.  We can turn your paper into dust.   

• Do you service commercial and residential clients?
  Yes.  We service corporations and individuals.
• Do you provide a one time service?
  Yes, we provide a one time purge of your confidential material. 
• How often do you provide service?

  We will service you as often or as infrequent as you want.  We are an on-demand service company.  When you call, we respond.  Most clients choose weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, or service every six weeks.  We cater to your requirements and preferences, and are willing to work with you.

• How long will it take for American Shredding to shred the material collected from my company’s facility?

  We can shred up to 6,000 lbs. of paper an hour with our paper shredding mobile trucks.  We can shred up to 8,000 lbs. of paper an hour at our facility.  Additionally, the smaller the shred size required, the longer it takes to shred the material.  It takes one hour to comply with NIST 800-80 and turn 1,800 lbs. of paper into dust. 

• Why use a service when I can shred myself?

  The greatest threat to a corporate breach are the employees.  Employees know where and how to access the data.  Additionally, employees who end up with the task of shredding are often times not the producers of the information.  The employees tasked with shredding should not be handling the sensitive information and thus given the opportunity to read or remove the material from the shredding cue.  American Shredding has a no touch, automated process to shred all your material.  This allows your company to focus on its core principles and allows us to focus on our core principles; safeguarding confidential material to prevent future use.  

  The majority of office shredders produce a shred size that leaves information exposed and vulnerable; large strips or large pieces.  An office shredder that shreds small enough to make the information safeguarded takes to long to shred.  Employees get frustrated and tired of waiting for the shredder to its job.  Additionally, the office shredder makes perfectly cut edges and holds the entire sheet in its basket.  Anyone can take the shredded material, dump it onto a table, and tape the pieces back together. 

  In summary, Office shredders either produce too large a shred or take too long to process 7 to 10 pieces of paper at a time. Office shredders are not cost efficient, increase risk, and allow employees the ability to read or walk off with material.  Use our service to insure identity theft protection, branding protection, and security of confidential materials.

• Why use a shredding service instead of recycling?

  Security. Liability. Reputation. One data breach will cost a corporation more than two million dollars.  Prevention is the key.  It’s not a debate whether a data breach is going to occur, it’s only a debate as to when will it occur and the ramifications from the event. 

  Recycling plants have no guidelines pertaining to the security of confidential information. Recycling centers do not perform back ground checks on employees.  Recycling centers are outdoor facilities with material blowing in the wind. 

• What happens to the material after it’s destroyed?

  Once your confidential documents are shredded, the material is taken back to our secure facility. All our trucks drive inside the locked facility.  Once inside, the trucks securely place the paper into a cue for processing.  The material is shredded and/or baled depending upon the security level required for the material.  The bales produced are stored under surveillance cameras until they can be loaded and taken directly to the paper mill.

  At American Shredding we are dedicated not only to the secure destruction of your data, but also to the protection and preservation of our environment. The paper we shred at American Shredding becomes recycled products such as toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, or facial tissue.

• Do I have to remove rubber bands, staples, paper clips, and other types of fasteners before I put documents to be shredded into the provided containers?
  No. Unlike office shredders which require the removal of all staples, paper clips, rubber bands, and other types of fasteners, at American Shredding our shredders are equipped to shred anything designed to hold paper together. With American Shredding, there is no wasted time sorting through stacks of paper to remove staples, etc. Just put your confidential documents in the provided container as is and we will take care of the rest.
• Does American Shredding provide locking containers for my company to store confidential materials until we are ready for a pickup?

  American Shredding does provide locked containers in which your company can store confidential documents until pickup. We offer professional looking, locking cabinets with a convenient paper slot to slide papers into. We also provide a variety of different sized bins in order to accommodate whatever your storage needs may be. We have a 32-gallon bin capable of holding 100 lbs, 64-gallon bin holding 200 lbs, a 96-gallon holding 300 lbs, and a 1 yard container holding 600 lbs.

• What if the containers at my company’s facility are full before the scheduled pickup?

  Not a problem. Just give American Shredding a call and we will be more than happy to provide any service that your company might need. We are flexible and our number one priority is servicing the customer. We are able to schedule pickups whenever your company might need one, and are equipped to make pickups the day after your call to American Shredding.

• What types of material is American Shredding able to shred other than paper?

  At American Shredding, we are capable of shredding virtually any type of material your company wishes to destroy. We shred plastics, hard drives, film, X-rays, disks, floppies, plastic credit cards, ID’S, video and audio tapes, CD’s, DVD’s, books, retail clothing, data tapes.

• Who needs shredding services?

  If you have material with two or more identifying pieces of information that is not publicly known, then it needs to be shredded.  State and Federal legislation mandate such a stance due to the millions of data breaches that have occurred during the past ten years.  Language regarding proper disposal can be found in the FACTA Act Disposal Rule, Red Flags, HITECH, GLB, HIPAA, Sarbanes & Oxley and state legislation. 

• What documentation do I receive at the completion of the shredding service?

  At a minimum, American Shredding will provide you with a service ticket and a Certificate of Destruction confirming the date, time, and amount of sensitive/confidential material and documents that were shredded.  The Certificate of Destruction is a legal document that certifies that your records were destroyed.