People tend to think that document shredding is a pretty boring business. Of course, they couldn’t be more wrong! There’s nothing we love more than watching reams of paper, shirts and data discs go into our machines, be chomped down and come out as a block of mulch and perfect strips on the other side. But all of that is very much our day to day modern shredding service, so we have a few facts from the ‘way back when’ of shredding.
The First Ever Shredder
Inventor Abbot Augusts Lowe patented the very first shredding machine in 1909. Unfortunately, his revolutionary design didn’t get much further than the patent office, as he died shortly afterwards. He had only produced the first functional prototype before he fell ill, and the design was lost for some time.
Sketchy Second Shredders
The modern shredder was based on the design of a German engineer Adolf Ehinger form 1919. But Ehinger didn’t just design the shredder to secure his identity or even de clutter his office, but to save his life. Instead he invented it so that he could shred and destroy thousands of pieces of anti-Nazi propaganda, ahead of raids by the Nazi secret police as Hitler came to power in Germany. Who knew that a shredder could be so important?
Rubbish is Public Property
We like to think that our property is still ours until we give it away of ceases to exist, but that isn’t entirely true. According to a ruling by the Supreme
Court in 1988, your rubbish stops being your property once you put the bins out. That means that if you put your bin out at night, anyone can legally come and search through it at their own leisure, and you can’t stop them. If that doesn’t make you a little paranoid about shredding your documents, we don’t know what will!
Professional Shredders Can Handle Anything
While your standard office shredder might cringe at the sight of a forgotten paperclip, professional, industrial shredders are made of hardier stuff. They can handle paper clips, rubber bands, butterfly clips, hanging file folders and even fingers (ouch!). In fact, our shredders can even handle clothing, so watch what you put in!
There’s A 1 In 33 Chance You’ll Have Your Identity Stolen In The Next Year
This seems like a scary statistic, and to be honest, it is! There are a lot of things you can do to reduce the risk of identity theft, including changing passwords and storing important documents in safes, but chief among them is shredding every personal and business document that has even the slightest bit of personal information on it. That includes bank details, full names, dates of birth, addresses or national insurance numbers.
From fighting Hitler to keeping your identity safe, shredding has a long history as one of the unsung heroes of our office worlds. If you think you could benefit from some document destruction or helpful hints for keeping your personal information personal, get in touch today!
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