One TV series getting a lot of attention now is that of Japanese tidying guru Marie Kondo, who teaches divisive lessons in minimalism for your home: not everybody is convinced they need to throw out their old stuff to have a healthier and more joyous state of mind. In fact, her instruction to have no more than 30 books in the home is making some people downright angry.
But, however you feel, there’s a big difference between harmless stuff you accumulate in your home because you like it and sensitive data like old bills or tax filings, which only presents a liability and is better off in the garbage.
Here are some reasons to hire professionals to getting rid of this kind of material.
Getting the Destruction Guarantee
There are services you can hire who specialize in getting rid of both paper and e-waste that may contain sensitive data. It can take the form of old bills, tax forms, and other personal documents which likely contains only innocuous information, but can be twisted by bad actors for things like identity fraud.
To learn more about such services, you can click here to read about the different ways industry leaders destroy this data. Some shredding services have their own facilities but can also come to your home and destroy sensitive data on site. They guarantee that your information will be totally destroyed: paper documents are shredded, and e-waste is not just thrown out in the garbage but the data stored is rendered unrecoverable. A good shredding service will issue a certification testifying that the data has been destroyed for good.
Environmentally Safe Destruction
It’s important that the shredded data is disposed of in a way that’s environmentally responsible, for both paper documents and e-waste. The latter may include electronics that are often more difficult to recycle properly. It could be an entire computer or hard drives, but the different metals in each component must be sent to different places to be recycled properly. Seek out a company which takes its commitment to the environment seriously.
There are cities which recycle electronics, but they issue disclaimers that they aren’t responsible for any potential privacy violations. The only way to guarantee both that your data is safely destroyed and that the process has been environmentally friendly is hiring a professional shredder service.
All the Things to Destroy
Commonly, documents which need to be destroyed are often in the form of banker’s boxes full of paper or old e-waste, but sometimes it takes an unusual form. Sensitive data may include information printed on old work security cards for a past job, or even old work uniforms. See that the company you hire is capable of “specialty destruction services” to make sure you can get rid of all your sensitive data.
Maybe people like Marie Kondo are right, and you will become happier if you throw out everything from your house that doesn’t give you immediate joy, or maybe she’s wrong. But it’s definitely wise to purge potential liabilities from your home, especially personal or work-related data that can be used against you for things like identity fraud.
For this, you should call a professional shredding service today.