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As we continue to expand and welcome new clients to our mobile shredding services, the same questions get asked. What’s the difference between on-site and off-site shredding, and why is the distinction important? More importantly, why is shredding itself so important? Today, we’d like to clear up any remaining confusion about the differences between these two shredding methods and why it’s in your best interest to shred all of your confidential materials.

Off-site shredding services will collect documents and transport them to a local plant. It’s at this location where the documents are destroyed, alongside documents collected from other locations. This method involves many steps that are vulnerable to malicious or accidental breaches. The documents have to travel from at least three different locations (the place of business, the truck, and the shredding plant), where three different sets of employees will have access to the material before it’s destroyed.

On-site shredding services, on the other hand, will arrive at your home or place of business in a mobile shredding truck. Just outside your door, this service will both collect and destroy documents. The material is handled only by those employees operating the mobile shredding truck. These employees are identifiable by company uniforms and are bondable and insurable, eliminating all of the steps vulnerable to theft. When our mobile shredding trucks arrive at your location, you’ll be able to oversee the entire process, and you’ll be awarded with a final “Guarantee of Destruction” once everything has been shredded.

Hiring an on-site shredding service (like us!) is an effective method that protects against individual identity theft or company fraud. When you skip the important step of shredding and throw your important documents into the garbage bin, the wrong person can dishonestly acquire identifying personal data, like contact information, account numbers, banking details, and intellectual property – all of which can be used to usurp accounts or open new ones to buy, borrow, or rent under an assumed identity. When you shred on-site with us, you eliminate every opportunity a thief has to steal information. Our shredding services are a secure way to destroy your sensitive materials.

An added bonus of using our on-site shredding service is the green benefits. Next to your personal and corporate security, our next biggest concern is the environment, and we do everything within our power to lessen our eco-footprint. After our professional team shreds your documents, they promptly recycle your material and issue you a “Guarantee of Recycling”. For every ton of paper recycled, roughly 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space is saved. Over our 15 years of operation, we’ve saved over 1,600 cubic yards of landfill space and over 11,000 trees! That’s some serious environmental savings.

While off-site shredding services are better than not shredding your documents at all, it’s no match to the services provided by an on-site shredding truck. By eliminating access to your confidential materials, you can be assured of the efficiency and security of your shredding. When you trust your shredding to the professionals, you can also enjoy the benefit of doing some green good in the world. We hope this has cleared up any confusion between the two methods. Rather than wondering if you should go on- or off-site, pick up the phone and give us a call!