It’s a question most businesses face eventually: should you shred in-house or use an external provider? The argument is the same whether you’re considering onsite/mobile shredding or offsite shredding. Which is the best in terms of confidential waste disposal?
The reality is there are pros and cons to both options. What’s important is that you weigh up those pros and cons of shredding and confidential waste disposal in terms of your own business needs.
The Pros of In-house Paper Shredding
Before you book a shredding company, it’s worth understanding whether in-house shredding may work for you. Here’s a list of the pros:
- Full control: Can represent full control. You never need to hand over the reins of confidential waste disposal to someone else, least of all an external provider.
It is worth bearing in mind though that in reality, few businesses can afford the manpower at the level that confidential waste is being generated. This means that confidential waste is often put in the hands of others instead. Often these staffs are not adequately trained in confidentiality matters.
- Low cost: Particularly when you don’t generate vast quantities of document waste, can be a viable low-cost solution.
- Timeliness: It is possible to shred documents the moment they are no longer needed. For documents of highest confidentiality mean that they can be read and then disposed of immediately. This eliminates any risk of information loss.
The Cons of In-house Paper Shredding
Despite the pros of doing the shredding in-house, the reality when it comes to confidential waste disposal is that the cons often outweigh the pros. Let’s examine these.
- High volumes: Few businesses generate so little paper waste that it is viable to do all shredding internally. However, high volumes of paper waste disposal incur both cost and time implications. Businesses will find that it is more cost-effective and time-efficient to outsource shredding to a company like On Time Shred.
- Data breaches: A primary need for shredding over simple disposal of documents is to ensure confidentiality. However, shredding in-house can cause possible data breaches. Very few senior staff will have the time to spend shredding documents. Additionally, keeping the documents secure prior to shredding can be a concern.
By choosing On Time Shred you can store paper waste in secure containers before it is shredded either on site or off site by us. All shredding is overseen by vetted staff who have been DBS checked.
- Maintenance costs: Whilst a small shredder won’t cost the business much, a few such shredders can handle the quantities of shredding that are needed. But companies face expensive outlay costs and then the ongoing maintenance costs too.
By outsourcing your shredding needs you don’t incur any maintenance costs. Industrial scale shredders are used and maintenance costs are absorbed within the shredding business contracts.
- Breakdowns: Similarly, you may experience technical breakdown problems with an in-house shredder. This leaves you vulnerable whilst you are waiting for it to be fixed. An external shredding company will have well-maintained equipment which, even in the event of a breakdown, can be quickly replaced.
- Tedious: Let’s face it – shredding is a fairly tedious task when you’ve got other things to be getting on with. When shredding is simply something the staff have to do as a by-product, and not their main endeavour, they are likely to put it off, cut corners, or even hide the rubbish. However, with dedicated shredding personnel, this is precisely what they do. They will stick to the security protocols regarding confidential waste disposal.
- Peace of mind: In the realm of heightened data protection with the GDPR, you don’t really get that full peace of mind with in house shredding. By using On Time Shred you will receive a certificate stipulating that your confidential waste disposal has been completed.
By choosing to use On Time Shred for your confidential waste disposal, you can free up your own internal resources to do the job you need to do. Alongside this you gain reassurance that you are GDPR compliant and keeping information secure. Find out more about our paper shredding services here.
