Document shredding and recycling are now very popular. Everyone, from small enterprises to large companies, is realizing the benefits of properly disposing their old documents through shredding and recycling. Not only is it safer to shred, it is also more environmentally friendly; shredded documents can be recycled easily and be reused for many things. Before you go ahead and find a suitable shredding company to help you, however, there are a few things you need to know first. We are going to discuss them in this article.

Document Collection and More

A shredding company in Montreal or recyclage de papier Montreal can either shred or recycle your documents on-site or off-site. The later means documents must be transported to another location to be processed. This may pose some concerns, particularly when the documents to be shredded contain sensitive information.

Worry not, because security is part of the services offered by top shredding and recycling companies. They will offer to provide you with a safe – or safes, depending on the contract you opt for – in which you can store documents safely until they are picked up.

These safes cannot be opened by unauthorized parties. Only those within your company and the actual technicians that will perform the shredding and recycling can access all documents stored in the safes using a predetermined key code.

License and Certifications

As with many industries in the country, shredding and recycling companies are also licensed and must be properly registered. Audits are conducted before a company can operate in a certain area.

You may want to go for a company that has completed the NAID AAA Certification Program. The NAID AAA certification is given to companies who have met the high standards of the organization. Audits are also conducted regularly so that all standards are met consistently across all contracts.

It is even possible to ask for a tour or a test project. You can have everyday documents shredded on- or off-site in order to be able to observe the actual shredding process. That way, you can see if the information you are destroying is kept safe across the process.

One-Time vs. Regular Destructions

Depending on your needs, you can either opt for a one-time destruction project or a regular schedule across a certain period of time. Companies use less and less paper these days, but there are still quite a lot of old documents, files and archives to destroy. Scheduled destructions can actually help you sort through a large quantity of documents piece by piece, making the whole process of shredding them much more manageable.

Destruction Certificate

Always make sure you receive a destruction certificate at the end of the process. The certificate must state the time and date of the destruction, the amount of documents destroyed during the process and a number of other details. You can also keep internal records of what documents are destroyed or shredded. Combined, the two gives you the ability to trace back destruction history meticulously whenever necessary.