Your business might reap multiple benefits from organizing a shredding event. First, it’s a good opportunity to clean out your facilities and offices so you can get rid of obsolete materials, hard drives and files in a secure way, creating more storage space. Businesses also host shredding events that are open to the public or their customers as a way to boost name recognition, attract new customers and just generally create some positive attention for themselves. A lot of people have bags or boxes of old shreddable documents sitting around, but don’t have a good way to securely dispose of them. Organizing a shredding event can bring activity to your location and boost your profile as a useful member of the community.
Partnering with a reputable shredding service is step one for planning a shredding event. The shredding company will do a lot of the heavy lifting for the event, literally, as their workers will collect, load, transport and shred all the materials that people drop off. (Note that some shredding events use shredding trucks that do onsite shredding, which can be noisy enough to disturb your neighbors. The alternative is an onsite shredding event with offsite shredding, in which the shredding company collects truckloads of materials at your location and then securely transports them to its locked shredding facility for destruction.)
While organizing a shredding event should be fairly simple, there are many details that must be ironed out in advance. Read on for four important steps that will help your business make its event a success for everyone.
1. Clarify the Logistics
Do you have answers to all of the following questions? If not, nail down these logistical points now.
Where will everything be set up? Make sure you know how big the shredding truck will be and figure out exactly where you want it to be parked for the shredding event. If people will be driving up to drop off shreddable materials, think about whether you’ll need to do anything to control the flow of traffic like setting up cones to create a lane for drivers to follow. Consider creating signs or stationing a staff member at the entrance to the area where the event will be held so drivers know where to go. It’s also a good idea to have trash bins set up to collect empty plastic bags or other non-shreddable materials that people might bring along with them.
Are there any permit issues, neighbor issues or parking issues that need to be planned for? Essentially, is there anyone you need to notify/get permission from in order to hold your event? Whether you need a permit for your shredding event depends on municipality rules and whether it’s a public event and/or being held on public property. If your business wants to have a shredding truck set up on the street, for example, you’ll definitely want to contact your municipal permit office. If the shredding event will be held in your private parking lot and staff will be working that day, think about whether you’ll need to have them park somewhere else to create enough space for the event.
Who from your staff will be present throughout the shredding event? Having at least one representative from your business present throughout the event is important for many reasons, including the possibility that people may have questions about your business, additional services and security of the materials being transported.
What kinds of materials can people bring to the shredding event? Is there a maximum per person? It’s common to only collect paper documents at a shredding event (though every event is different) and to set a maximum amount for attendees; for example, two boxes of documents per person.
Will you charge community members a fee? Some organizations also charge a small fee for people to drop things off at a shredding event to offset the cost of hiring the shredding service. Make sure you’re clear about all these details so you can share them in any promotional communication and minimize confusion on the day of the event.
Is there a plan to get shreddable materials cleared out of your offices/facilities in time for the event? Take advantage of having your shredding service onsite by instructing everyone at your business to gather all obsolete documents before the day of the event. If necessary, remind staff to check your data destruction policy for guidance about what kinds of documents can be shredded and what documents need to be kept indefinitely.
2. Make a Plan for Promoting the Event
If you want customers and/or community members to come to your shredding event, you’ll need to spread the word. That might mean sending an email to all of your customers, creating public signage, notifying local news media and posting about the event on your own social media pages and community social media pages. Also, make sure you designate someone from your team to take photos and video of the event (with permission from anyone featured in those images) so you can put them on your website and social media later.
3. Think Through “What If” Scenarios for Event Day
What if it rains or is extremely hot on the day of your event? Will you have umbrellas and pop-up tents handy if that happens? What if someone from your team who’s scheduled to work the event calls in sick? What if people bring things like off-spec items or other materials that you may not be accepting during your event? Will you let event attendees go inside your business to use your bathrooms if they ask?
4. Confirm Details with Your Shredding Service
In addition to confirming that your shredding service is set to be at your shredding event, feel free to ask your provider any questions that have come up during your planning process. For example, will they accept any unanticipated items if people bring them to the event? What will happen if you collect so much material that the shredding truck fills up before the event is over? Any reputable shredding service should be happy to help you resolve your questions before the day of the event so everyone is on the same page.
Call Northeast Data Destruction for Help With Your Next Shredding Event
Northeast Data Destruction has helped many organizations pull off smooth and successful shredding events. For example, we partnered with Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore to hold a shredding event for ReStore donors, helping Habitat for Humanity fund its work and providing an important service for its supporters. I’m more than happy to connect and answer any questions you may have about how Northeast Data Destruction or our sister company Miller Recycling can assist you in organizing your own successful shredding event. Contact me today!