Why secure hard drive destruction goes hand-in-hand with your sustainability goals
In today’s world, businesses are coming under increasing pressure to set and meet environmental targets. Studies show that 88% of consumers say they would be more loyal to a company that supports green issues1. At the same time, Government regulations are becoming more stringent and businesses are increasingly required to disclose their environmental impact. Many companies are also proactively taking-on the sustainability challenge themselves and initiating programmes to help tackle climate change.
With all this in mind, businesses around the world are increasingly making decisions to commit to 100% renewable energy2 and adopt sustainability strategies3. Employees may have also seen recycling bins around the office, with the addition of electric car chargers in office car parks over the last few years. And many businesses have adopted policies to help make sure they have standards for the secure and sustainable disposal of confidential paper files in the office and when working remotely.
But what about hard-to-recycle equipment such as computer hard drives?
When dealing with data protection, one aspect that is often overlooked is the secure disposal and recycling of hard drives. Many businesses may be aware of the security implications of improper disposal of hard drives – but it's not just about protecting sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands. Secure, sustainable hard drive destruction can go hand-in-hand with your environmental goals. The materials used in hard drives, such as metals, plastics and glass, can be harmful to the environment if they are not disposed of properly. These materials can take hundreds of years to decompose and if they end up in landfills, they can pollute the soil and water – on the other hand, they can be securely recycled and created in new products- contributing to a circular economy.
Comply with both sustainability and environmental responsibilities
When it comes to hard drive destruction, businesses do not need to choose between their security policies and sustainability goals. A secure recycling service helps make sure that disposal is done in a compliant way - to meet security, privacy and environmental regulations.
Shred-it’s hard drive destruction service is designed to keep data compliance in mind, with a unique six step process. After being securely stored, collected and transported, state-of-the-art equipment and technology ensures hard drives are shredded and destroyed. The entire hard drive is shredded into small pieces using this industrial grade equipment. This completely destroys the drive platters, mechanisms and electronic components meaning data it contained can never be accessed, retrieved or reconstructed. After the shredding process, material is securely recycled by approved partners.
Reduce your business’s carbon footprint
By choosing a secure hard drive destruction service that disposes and recycles metals from hard drives in an environmental and responsible manner, businesses can help ensure their data security as well as safeguard their sustainability credentials.
Recycling and repurposing hard drives not only reduces waste but also conserves valuable natural resources. For example, precious metals are melted back to their raw state and used to manufacture new products reducing the need to extract more raw materials from the earth.
Adopt policies that prioritise recycling
Businesses can also make sure sustainable destruction of secure hard drives becomes second nature to employees by making them part of a robust workplace policy. Shred-it, works with businesses to help them implement such rules, assisting them with navigating an increasingly complex compliance environment, to maximise data security and to prioritise recycling. This is something that has become more challenging since remote and hybrid working patterns have become commonplace – but makes implementing a workplace recycling policy even more important.
At Shred-it, we understand the importance of securely destroying hard drives and can make sure it goes hand-in-hand with your company’s sustainability goals. Talk to us today about how we can help your business.
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https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/why-sustainability-is-crucial-for-corporate-strategy/
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