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Protecting and destroying the information entrusted to them comes first while the market value of shredded paper comes second, a panel of speakers from the confidential shredding industry told attendees of the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show.
Nick Wildrick, co-founder of Shred First LLC, Spartanburg, S.C., urged those entering the field to think first of the value of the shredding service being offered, and not of the tons of paper that can be recovered. “Everything we sell is about security,” he remarked.
Wildrick presented a business model based on a “per container” charge that may seem low-yielding taken alone (both in dollars and in pounds of paper), but when multiplied by 1,000 bins presents a scenario for $900,000 in revenue before the value of the shredded scrap paper is even considered.
Chris Ockenfels, manager of the Document Destruction and Recycling Services (DDRS) subsidiary of City Carton Co., Iowa City, Iowa, also noted that the commodity-based model of the recycling industry does not always align with the service and security-based model of the document destruction industry.
Confidential shredders have the additional responsibilities of facility security, employee background checking and chain of custody agreements for the documents they handle, Ockenfels noted.
Increasingly, shredding firms have to meet shredding particle size specifications that may even negatively affect the value of their scrap paper product. For security reasons they must often shred entire files—folders, paper clips and plastic report covers included—which can also negatively impact the value of their scrap paper.
As far as complaints from paper mills because of these practices and the potential downgrading of such material, Wildrick said flatly, “I don’t care.” He noted that the first duty of a shredding firm is the protection and destruction of the information.
Robert Johnson, executive director of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), Phoenix, Ariz., urged recyclers who also offer shredding services to consider using NAID as a resource to help ensure that they follow best industry practices and stay in touch with key legislative issues affecting document destruction firms.
The Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show took place in downtown Atlanta from June 26 to 29.
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