Confidential Waste Disposal & Shredding Services in Watford

While you may already be allocating a sizeable percentage of your budget to protecting electronically stored personal data (any information that identifies a living person), do you know that personal data stored in printed format is also covered by General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)?

To comply with GDPR, these records must be securely placed in locked storage with restricted access and when no longer needed, they must be destroyed in such a way that it is impossible to retrieve the information.

You may even want to securely dispose of other documents containing commercially-sensitive information such as patent applications, product design and development, and even confidential pricing agreements.

Unfortunately, some of the office shredding machines in use today don’t comply with GDPR and even if they do, they are slow and prone to jamming, resulting in employee time being used inefficiently. What’s more, if documents containing personal data are left lying around waiting for the shredder to become available or to be fixed, this can be considered a breach of GDPR.

Companies that take data protection seriously use a confidential waste destruction service provider.

Avena operates throughout Watford and the surrounding area, safeguarding the security of confidential waste from the moment it is disposed of to the point it has been shredded. Our powerful machinery ensures fast and efficient destruction of printed data in large quantities, even taking small amounts of data storage devices such as flash drives and discs along with paper waste.

Secure GDPR-Compliant Document Shredding

Our secure confidential waste destruction facilities are used throughout the public and private sector across the Watford area, with three service options that can be tailored to provide a GDPR-compliant service that fits the specific needs of each organisation.

Secure Off-Site Shredding

The lockable consoles we use for our SECURALL document destruction system – exclusive to Avena – will blend unobtrusively with your office environment and unlike a shredder, can be positioned anywhere.

Designed to prevent documents from being retrieved after disposal, they are fitted with a personalised QR code for you to scan when they need emptying, automatically alerting us so we can schedule a visit.

On arrival, our BS7858 security vetted, DBS-checked customer service representative unlocks the console and transfers the contents directly to one of our specially adapted secure vans. Fitted with CCTV cameras and 24/7 real-time satellite tracking, these carry no signage that could alert the public to the confidential nature of their cargo.

At our shredding facility, CCTV and security-vetted operations personnel continue to protect your data throughout the destruction process.

On-Site Shredding

If you have a large number of documents to be shredded as a bulk consignment, or prefer the extra peace of mind that comes from not having undestroyed documents leaving your premises, an on-site shredding service might be your preferred option.

At a prearranged time our vehicle-mounted shredding unit will arrive at your premises and park in a secure location of your choice. Your paper waste will be carried out and shredded immediately; you can even choose to use your own personnel to transfer the documents to the mobile unit, and personally witness the destruction process.

We issue a certificate of destruction for every consignment of confidential waste so you can prove your compliance in the event of a GDPR audit. With SECURALL it will be sent to you once the process has been completed at our shredding facility. With our on-site service, the certificate will be issued and given to you before we leave your premises.

Textile Destruction And Recycling

With recycling, sustainability, and carbon footprint reduction now playing a key part in commercial decisions, it may seem strange to find that we also shred used clothing and textiles. There are however valid reasons for this and it’s a greener process than you may think.

Crime Prevention

Persons who act out fantasies by impersonating a member of the emergency and security services are committing serious crimes that can put lives at risk.

Criminals posing as employees of respectable organisations such as utility providers target the vulnerable, gaining access to their homes or winning their confidence to dupe them out of large sums of money.

If improper use of your corporate workwear could potentially damage your commercial interests, facilitate criminal activity or put lives at risk, destroying uniforms recovered from former personnel or surplus clothing that has been superseded by new designs is one way of reducing these opportunities.

Protecting Brands

Shredding garments with manufacturing defects and end-of-season surplus stock is one way in which fashion houses protect the value of their brand, while law enforcement agencies destroy seized counterfeit fashion items for the same reason.

Keeping It Green

We are an ISO 14001 certified company committed to reducing the environmental impact of landfill sites. The fibres produced by our textile shredding process are therefore used for other products, such as the sound-absorbent filling of acoustic office screens.

Electrical And Electronic Waste Disposal

Anyone disposing of used electrical and electronic goods – not just equipment manufacturers and resellers – has to comply with WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) regulations.

Electrical and electronic products are a significant proportion of post-consumer waste that once congested landfill sites. As these are generally made from easily recyclable materials such as steel, aluminium, plastic, and other components and frequently contain environmentally hazardous substances, WEEE ensures these products are recycled where possible and disposed of responsibly.

WEEE applies to a wide range of office equipment, including:

• Computers and laptops
• Laser and inkjet printers
• Servers
• Network switches, hubs, routers, and firewalls
• Other miscellaneous IT equipment
• Coffee machines, kettles, fridges, etc.

We can ensure you comply with WEEE when you dispose of such items and if they contain data storage such as the hard drives on computers and laptops we can destroy these components to comply with GDPR.

Your Secure Data Destruction In Safe Hands

We service clients in the education, finance, healthcare and legal sectors, so we must be able to demonstrate our competence and integrity.

We follow the BSEN:15713-2009 Code of Practice to ensure your confidential waste is destroyed following GDPR requirements, and hold the following certification:

• ISO 9001 guarantees we give consistent service quality and follow appropriate security procedures at all times
• ISO 14001 demonstrates we are committed to protecting the environment through effective waste management
• ISO 45001 ensures we provide safe working conditions at our shredding facility, in our offices and vehicles, and at our mobile shredding locations