Save the Earth, Host a Shred Day

Corodata TeamApr. 26, 2021 | Shredding |

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on April 23, 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve refreshed and edited it to reflect our current realities of remote work and community virus transmission.

Once again, in honor of Earth Day, we want to remind our clients that professional paper shredding is an eco-friendly way to destroy confidential documents securely while protecting our planet. It declutters, boosts morale, and is 100% recycled.

In the past, we shared five creative ways that California businesses hosted Shred Days, making secure paper shredding available for their customers and their communities alike.

Now, for obvious reasons, some of the shred day logistics we’ve talked about in the past need some adjusting. Here’s your chance to make any day Earth Day with a few post-pandemic twists on hosting a shred day curbside.

1.

It’s easy being green

If your company has a green initiative that includes recycling a certain amount of paper each year, then hosting a shred day will help you reach that goal. Collect as many must-shred documents as you can, invite your clients to join you, and crank up the fun with food, drinks, and music.

Go even greener by partnering with a certifiably green company like Corodata. 100% of the paper in consoles is shredded and recycled. In 2020, our clients collectively saved 157,000 trees, 65M gallons of water, and 27,897 cubic yards of landfill space.

Curbside twist: We’ll send a secure shred bag (and a flyer about your Shred Day) to everyone on your list of remote workers, customers, and even—if you’d like—community members. Keep the music and fun; skip the food, drinks, and getting together. Instead, thank them with a branded gift.

2.

Lunch, learn, shred

Employees are more likely to remember the importance of shredding sensitive documents if you give them lunch while you teach them. With data breaches exposing close to 156 million records in 2020, a data protection “Lunch and Learn” would give your employees an opportunity to hear about the steps that they could take to better protect their data—including what to throw away and what to shred. Hire a taco truck; then, when everyone’s had their fill, start feeding those ever-hungry-shredders.

Curbside twist: You can still hold a lunch and learn! Just do it in a Zoom meeting, and send out gift cards for lunch, compliments of the company.

Ready to host a shred day? Corodata can help

It’s easy to set up an onsite shredding event with Corodata. We’ve got Shred Trucks and a team of shredding experts ready to go. We’ll even help you spread the word to your customers.

schedule your own shred event

3.

Friendly inter-office competition

Inter-office competitions are a great way to generate more team cohesion and morale. Stuck for ideas? One sustainable waste management business organized a successful company-wide recycling competition by pitting one floor or department against another.

The sky is the limit on the type of competitions you can host. For example, you could hold a shredding competition between offices to see how many locking shred bins each location can fill up. (Just don’t forget to send out a “what to shred” poster before you start.)

Curbside twist: Put out a challenge—how many shred bags can each department can drop off? Whatever the number, we can help you shred everything!

4.

Shred for good

Yes, shredding is good for the planet, employee morale, and operational efficiency. That’s not all, though—it can also help a good cause.

In addition to inviting customers and local residents to come out for a day of document destruction, you can team up with an eco-friendly charity and raise some money.

Set an ambitious goal for how many pounds of paper you’d like to shred. Then donate a certain amount—such as $2/lb—to your favorite charity.

Curbside twist: No need to adjust this plan for the pandemic. It still works! (And depending on the charity, they may be happier than ever.)

5.

Meet new clients or members

Banks and credit unions host shred days to encourage their customers to destroy sensitive paper documents—like bank records and credit card statements—in a secure way. Member-based organizations hold annual shred days as a benefit for members to securely shred confidential records, personal or otherwise.

Doing so helps raise awareness about the importance of protecting your data while minimizing risk for both the company and the customer: a real win-win. The earth wins too: You’ll be recycling all that unwanted paper waste.

Plus, when you open up the Shred Day to the community, you’ll spread goodwill and meet potential new clients.

Curbside twist: Banks and Credit Unions can still build goodwill with people in the community and customers by inviting them to securely shred their confidential documents for free. You can even send them off with a branded secure bank box to use from now on to keep their papers in.