Containment Strategy

The key to placing bins and containers in customer locations hinges on ease of use and efficiency, according to document destruction service providers.

“If containers aren’t easily accessible by the employees, the risk of nonuse increases,” says Greg Shealy, director of sales for Shred360, Irmo, S.C., “which increases the risk that a sensitive document finds its way into a trash can instead of into a secure collection container.”

Shred360 offers on- and off-site destruction services throughout South Carolina and services nearly 2,000 containers.

Location is Key
Shealy takes the physical layout of the facility, departments, key employees and the volume of paper generated into consideration when placing bins with clients. “Larger volumes of paper require more containers,” he says. “Also, it may be more efficient to have multiple containers in key locations,” Shealy says, specifying the accounting and human resources departments, particularly if these departments are spread throughout the business.

When placing bins and containers with customers, Ian Taylor, CEO of Eagle Secure Shredding, Atlanta, says he concentrates on central locations, such as copy rooms and other areas where paper is generated, as well as points of egress.

At client locations that feature high-security cameras, Taylor says Eagle often places containers within a camera’s line of sight. “If a client believes they had a data breach, we can go back to the second when our service technician serviced that console and review the security takes with them,” he says.

Eagle Secure Shredding, which provides mobile shredding services to clients throughout portions of Georgia and in Greenville, S.C., services some 1,000 containers, Taylor says.

Eagle Secure Shredding encourages its clients to shred all of their documents, with Taylor saying the company emphasizes information security over trash collection.

The company regularly generates service reports for its clients and, after an initial 90-day service period, will adjust the number and placement of containers according to these reports.

For more remote clients, Taylor says his company will place twice as many containers so that it can service the client once per month. However, he stresses that in most cases Eagle encourages its clients to shred more often to reduce risk. “Most of our clients are on weekly service,” he adds.

Shealy says the number of containers and the frequency of service go hand in hand. “For lower volumes, a customer may be adequately serviced by having one console that is serviced every 12 weeks. For some of our higher volume customers, we may service 18 to 20 containers (both consoles and roll carts) every two weeks.” Shealy adds, “The key is to find the right combination that results in cost effectiveness and ease of use for the client and efficiency in serving for our service technicians.”

Console or Bin?
Whether to use a bin or a console often is determined by customer preference, Shealy and Taylor say.

“Some containers will be located where the appearance of the container is a factor, and a console will be used,” Shealy says. “Consoles are also used with smaller volume customers.”

Shred360 places roll carts when high volumes of paper are generated, provided a suitable location is available. “Roll carts take up more space and are not as ‘attractive’ as the console style container,” he says. “Work rooms and copy rooms are great locations for roll carts.”

Taylor says Eagle often opts for placing a number of consoles with clients as well as one 95-gallon container for overflow. He adds that consoles often are preferable for many reasons, including their professional appearance and because they also function as office furniture. Consoles also do not scream “trash disposal,” Taylor says, in the way wheeled containers might.

Quality and durability are key factors Taylor and Shealy say they look for when shopping for containers and consoles.

In Inventory
Shred360 and Eagle Secure Shred vary in their inventorying practices.

“We order containers relatively frequently as our business is located within easy driving distance of our supplier,” Shealy says. “Therefore, we’ve found it not necessary to store a large inventory of containers in our facility. We are able to order and pick them up when needed.”

Eagle, however, orders containers five or six times per year, Taylor says. “We keep a large inventory,” he says, adding that Eagle generally has two pallets of consoles and two pallets of wheeled bins in inventory.

“It allows us to move quickly if we are bidding on an account,” he adds.

Responsiveness also is a key component to successfully servicing information destruction clients in the long term. Ensuring clients have the appropriate style and number of containers their businesses require also helps to contribute to a document destruction company’s efficiency and the safe disposal of confidential documents.

The author is editor of SDB and can be reached at dtoto@gie.net.