EcoShredding Blog

What Government Agencies Need To Shred

government document shredding

Following an investigation of government processes, The Washington Post ran a March 2014 story about the mountain-sized files of paper stored inside a former Pennsylvania limestone mine, where truckloads of government paper is taken every day – just to handle the information necessary to process retirement claims for government employees.

The system’s flaw, the Post points out, is that the retirement project still must be done “entirely by hand, and almost entirely on paper.” The mine is used not because the paperwork is secret, but because it is the only place that has the space to handle the size and scope of such a project: 230 feet below the ground in a room the size of a supermarket!

Think of the implications of any of that paperwork winding up in a Dumpster: retirement paperwork holds an employee’s entire work history, including hire dates, job titles, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, insurance information, bank account numbers… an identity thief’s candy store.

And that is just one instance of files and storage. In thousands of file cabinets and storage rooms around the country are stored the official documents of town halls and city halls, courthouses, training centers, licensing offices, tax offices, and more. Consider the paperwork you must take to the DMV when you apply for or renew your driver’s license: those copies of your birth certificate, Social Security card, proof of address, proof of insurance, etc., are kept along with your application or expired license.

At some point, these mountains of paper will meet the shredder, and small, personal shredding machines are not capable of handling the volume of documents processed by government offices.

The good news is that EcoShredding’s On-Site Document Destruction service is not only capable, it is the most secure method for sensitive document disposal. Since they shred on-site, government offices can rest assured that the information will never be readable or usable by anyone!

From government offices to small businesses, neighborhood associations, and more, EcoShredding is the company more agencies and businesses turn to for their document destruction needs.

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