Sometimes you need to destroy documents completely and utterly. Fortunately, there are several ways to get rid of them without a trace. Here are a few.
A big part of business is protecting your assets. Some of those assets come in the form of intellectual property via paper and digital files. While you must save some documents, you need to dispose of others. But as easy as it would be to simply throw such documents away, you run the risk of having competitors and identity thieves discover and exploit them. When getting rid of such documents, pick a way that ensures they’re gone for good. Here are four different methods to totally destroy documents.
Shredding
When it comes to document destruction, you can’t go wrong with shredding. For small to medium businesses, buying a shredder is a worthwhile investment for daily document disposal. While some shredders cut paper into long strips, crosscut shredders are the best investment. They cut both vertically and horizontally, making it difficult to reassemble documents. Micro-cut shredders go a step beyond, essentially turning paper into confetti and creating an impossible jigsaw puzzle. For bigger jobs, hire a document destruction company. They have larger shredders, often do the job on-site and can provide a certificate of destruction to prove the protection of your intellectual property.
Pulping
If you don’t want to buy or rent a shredder, pulping offers a thorough way to destroy documents or render them unreadable. If you choose to do it yourself, fill a trash can with a solution of water and bleach. After preparing the solution, toss in the documents, then tamp them down with a stick or board and stir. Wear gloves and goggles, and never touch the solution with bare skin. If they’re in a safe and secure area, you can leave the documents to soak. Return after a day or two and mash them further into pulp. When the documents are a pulpy mess, retrieve the pulp with a strainer, then dump the solution (but not into a sewer or drain). Naturally, some document disposal companies also offer pulping services.
Fire
One of the more old-fashioned methods of destruction, fire can ensure you reduce sensitive documents to ash. Naturally, burning documents is dangerous. It’s best to leave to a professional document disposal company with access to an incinerator, burners or similar devices that burn the documents and redirect the resulting smoke outdoors. If you choose to incinerate documents yourself, do it outdoors in a metal trash can, fire pit, grill or similar receptacle that can handle high temperatures. You should also be able to easily cover it to smother the flames. Keep a water source nearby, preferably a hose, and don’t let fiery embers and ash escape.
Crushing and More
Here’s just one more of our four different methods to totally destroy documents. Of course, not all documents are paper. Remember that hard drives, thumb drives and similar media also contain private and proprietary information. The surest way to get rid of these devices is to hire a company to demolish them. Most have machines that can wipe the drives clean of information and then crush them to bits. If you only have a thumb drive or two to destroy, put on a pair of safety glasses and use pliers to crack open the casing and retrieve the memory chip. You can crush it with the pliers and dispose of it.