Everyone knows you should shred paper if you want it to be securely destroyed. But for many people shredding uniforms is a whole new world they haven’t even thought of. Any uniform material from cotton to burlap, polyurethane and nylon can all be shredded and recycled to create new materials, helping cut down on waste. But that’s not the only reason you should shred your old uniforms.
Understanding Shredding Uniforms
While most businesses will shred paper in order to protect their sensitive data, many businesses don’t think about what other data can be found on other items. Uniforms, particularly for certain industries, can contain names, logos, and are a very powerful persuasive tool. Very few people question uniformed workers, and even if they do, identification cards can be easily forged. Your business uniforms contain sensitive data – not in the traditional sense, but instead in the sense of identifying characteristics for employees within your business.
What’s The Worst That Could Happen?
If you have spent money on branded uniforms, you will probably have had some other information put on them too. Like the employee’s name, your contact details and your logo. While this might all seem innocent, in the wrong hands’ something as simple as a branded t-shirt could be very risky. For example, if you run a security company, someone could use that t-shirt to pretend they are part of your organisation and gain entry to a secure premises to commit a crime. So in any case where the uniform can’t be reused, it should be shredded to prevent this. This is just one, admittedly extreme, example, but these branded uniforms could easily be used to gain advantages and perks by people who don’t work for you, or used to damage your reputation due to the bad behaviour of the wearer.
So What Should You Do With Them?
Of course, instead of selling your old uniforms on, you could just throw them away. But then, that has some inherent risks as well (like theft from the bin, leading to the scenario above). It’s also not very environmentally friendly. If your business is truly dedicated to being green, you should shred your unwanted uniforms instead. When the fabric is shredded, the resulting scraps and rags are collected, bundled and sent away to be repurposed. Fabric shreddings are often used to make rags, other clothes or even to provide bedding for disadvantaged children in developing countries. Shredding your old uniforms means that your business identity is secure, your reputation intact and your ethical obligations (as far as recycling goes) are covered.
At Greenaway we pride ourselves on being as green as possible, so everything we shred is sent to a recycling plant. Our mobile shredding lorries can come to your location, or you can send your old uniforms to one of our many locations across the UK for secure shredding and recycling. To find out more about our uniform shredding service, or to book your shredding load, get in touch with us today.
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