Learn more about shredding in Houston, TX and services provided by Shred Pro, a professional document shredding company, through answers to frequently asked questions. If you do not see your question listed below, feel free to contact us, and we will reply as soon as possible.

• How small will the pieces of shredded paper be after you shred them?
• How will a shredding service save me money?
• Why not use my own employees to shred and dispose of my sensitive information?
• Can I use a recycling service to destroy my documents?
• What kinds of paper can we put into your containers?
• Do you take the shredded paper away?
• Do you provide a Certificate of Destruction?
• Does the Certificate of Destruction eliminate our legal responsibility and liability?How can we order your services?
• Should we remove the paperclips, staples and fasteners from documents and files?
• Do we have to remove files from hanging folders and manila envelopes?
• If we want to shred our documents ourselves, may we purchase the bins?
• How much paper can a typical security bin hold?
• We are a small organization of less than 10 employees. Do we produce enough paper to shred?
• We have files stored to be shredded, but we need to sort through them. Do you have any containers that we can use?
• Do you bring the shredder into our office?
• Can I keep my boxes?
• Do you have lockable containers?
• Why should I use a shredding service instead of buying a shredder?
• Are your employees bonded?
• What happens if our container fills up before the regularly scheduled service time?
• We use a small office shredder. Isn’t that good enough?
• How long should I retain my records?

The Answers

How small will the pieces of shredded paper be after you shred them?

Unlike the strip-cut shredders sold to consumers at retail office supply stores and mega-chains, we use the cross-cut, or confetti-cut, paper shredder. This type of shredder uses two contra-rotating drums to cut the paper both vertically and horizontally, which produces a finer shred by far than the standard strip produced by most inexpensive consumer shredders. This extra level of protection means that the resulting shredded pieces of paper are no larger than the confetti you can buy at your local party supply store.

How will a Shredding Service save me money?

You save money by using an outside document shredding company because you don’t have to:

• pay your employees to shred the paper
• purchase and maintain your own shredding equipment
• remove paperclips, staples and other fasteners
• clean up the dust from shredding
• pay for the costs of disposal

Why not use my own employees to shred and dispose of my sensitive information?

Internal personnel should not be responsible for destroying certain types of documents. Payroll information and materials that involve labor relations or legal affairs should not be entrusted to entry level employees for destruction. Information of interest to your competitors is best left out of their hands, as well. It has been established, time and again, that employees are the most likely to realize the value of certain information to competitors. Additionally, lower-wage employees often have the economic motivation to capitalize on their access to information. The only acceptable alternatives are to have the materials destroyed under the supervision of upper management, or by a carefully selected document destruction company.

Can I use a recycling service to destroy my documents?

Recycling services are not designed to provide security. Recyclers use open collection containers that remain accessible to everyone. Recycling service employees are generally not security screened, either. Your paper is transported to the recycling center in whole form. During that time, it is accessible to anyone who works for the recycling company, or who can manage to access these documents while they await recycling. Before your documents are destroyed, they are typically taken to a warehouse, where they are sorted by grade. During this period, your clients’ sensitive information is visible to whomever sorts your documents. The courts have ruled that once you place your material into a trash can, recycle bin, or dumpster, you lose all privacy rights to that information, no matter how sensitive or proprietary it may be. Public domain laws protect the people who take your information, and not you. You may even be held liable for negligence, if the discarded material is shown to cause harm to someone. Shred for safety! With the passage of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act of 1999 (also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act), the secure shredding of documents has become the recommended method for dealing with sensitive information.

What kind of paper can we put into your containers?

We will shred any type of paper,in any color or thickness, including file folders. Also, you don’t have to worry about removing paper clips, staples, or rubber bands. Our shredders are powerful enough to destroy them all.

Do you take the shredded paper away?

Yes. All of the shredded paper is taken to a recycling warehouse, to be used as filler for various recycled paper products. Other media, such as plastics, are taken to a waste-to-energy plant,where it is incinerated, and the resultant heat energy is transferred to your local electrical grid.

Do you provide a Certificate of Destruction?

Yes. We provide you with a certificate along with your invoice for that day’s service.

Does the Certificate of Destruction eliminate our legal responsibility and liability?

No, it does not. The Certificate of Destruction becomes supporting documentation of your due diligence, and should be retained by your Records Manager, which is crucial if you are ever subjected to an audit by a government agency.

How can we order your services?

You can call us for a complimentary consultation, or to schedule services, or go to the Contact Us page and fill out the online request for information form. One of our representatives will contact your shortly.

Should we remove the paperclips, staples and fasteners from documents and files?

You don’t need to. Our industrial strength shredder can rip through all of this.

Do we have to remove files from hanging folders and manila envelopes?

No, just drop all of your files into our locked security bins, and we’ll take care of the rest.

If we want to shred our documents ourselves, may we purchase the bins?

Yes you may. Many different sizes and colors are available. You may order these online, by phone or by fax.

How much paper can a typical security bin hold?

Our standard bins hold 200-250 lbs. of material.

We area small organization of less than 10 employees. Do we produce enough paper to shred?

Small businesses and organizations without significant paper output will still need professional, outsourced services to handle non-revenue generating functions. Our goal is to provide all organizations with the most secure, efficient and cost effective solution for the safeguarding of their sensitive information. Even if you do not regularly produce a significant number of paper documents, we will work with you to find the right combination of services to meet your needs. Remember, we offer on-call purge services for those organizations with limited output.

We have files stored to be shredded, but we need to sort through them. Do you have any containers that we can use?

We can deliver as many containers as you think you will need before the scheduled shredding date.

Do you bring the shredder into our office?

No, our high-volume commercial shredders are mounted permanently to our trucks. We park the truck in an out-of-the-way location, so as not to disrupt your day-to-day business. Shredding is done on-site, where you can observe if you like. This procedure ensures that you have total control over your sensitive documents up until the moment that they are destroyed, and is widely recognized as the securest type of document destruction in the industry.

Can I keep my boxes?

Yes, you can keep your boxes for reuse, or we can take them with us when we leave.

Do you have lockable containers?

Yes, we offer a variety of containers,both lockable and non-lockable, to meet your needs.

Why should I use a shredding service instead of buying a shredder?

Money! It will cost you 3 to 5 times more to shred in-house and to properly dispose of the waste than to employ a shredding service. Amortization of a shredder, staff time spent removing fasteners and file folders, sorting documents, shredding documents (a few pages at a time!), and disposal costs all add up to more than we charge, and we do all the work.

Are your employees bonded?

Yes, our security officers are all bonded, and must pass a rigorous background check before they are allowed to handle your sensitive information.

What happens if our container fills up before the regularly scheduled service time?

Just give us a call and we’ll come out early. We will treat that visit as a one-time purge, or we can reset your schedule from that date of service.

We use a small office shredder. Isn’t that good enough?

Manually shredding documents is costly,laborious and wastes valuable employee time. It is neither efficient nor cost effective for your employees to stand over an office shredder, dropping a few pages at a time into a low-power consumer-grade shredder. A good consumer-grade shredder shreds roughly 20 lbs. of paper per hour. It would take you around 3 hours to shred a case of paper. Our shredder destroys up to 5000 lbs. per hour. Worst of all, the standard office shredder rips documents into 5/8” strips, which can be easily reconstructed.

How long should I retain my records?

The information listed below should only be used as a guide to document retention and records management. Rules may vary by industry.

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