Member Article

Yorkshire shredding firm hits 2,000 tonnes milestone in recycling

McCarthy’s Safe Shred recycles enough confidential waste paper to make 10.8m toilet rolls

A Leeds-based shredding firm is celebrating the start of the new year by hitting a recycling milestone.

McCarthy’s Safe Shred has recycled 2,000 tonnes of confidential waste paper since it launched in 2013 – the equivalent of more than 330 African Bush Elephants or 158 double decker buses*.

For the last four years, McCarthy’s Safe Shred has taken confidential waste from organisations across Yorkshire, and refashioned it into paper towels, facial tissues and even toilet paper, with the help of Recycling UK. The 2,000 tonnes the firm has recycled is enough to produce 10.8 million toilet rolls. The firm also disposes of and recycles electronic material, including hard drives.

With General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force in May 2018, confidential waste disposal is high on the agenda of firms across the EU.

Mike McCarthy, managing director of McCarthy’s Safe Shred, explains: “Businesses of all sizes will be impacted when GDPR becomes law later in the year. Organisations will have to keep on top of data security and whether that’s financial records, correspondence or simply just an email address, any data must be disposed of responsibly or businesses risk huge fines. This doesn’t just apply to banks and law firms or medical practices – it’s any company, and any data, whether it’s related to customers, service-users or employees.

“By shredding your waste, not only are you acting responsibly in terms of confidential data, ensuring you stay on the right side of the law, but you’re also doing your bit for the environment. We are delighted to have met the 2,000 tonnes recycling milestone. We collect waste paper from businesses across Yorkshire, and store it securely before our industrial shredders get to work – or in some cases we use our mobile shredder and destroy waste at a client’s premises. We then provide customers with a certificate of destruction for their records.”

Marie Waller, national commercial manager at Recycling UK, said: “We are proud to have been involved with McCarthys Safe Shred from the start and really pleased to be part of their continuing growth and expansion.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Shona Nutter .