It’s World Environment Day (5th June) – the UN-instigated day when we’re all encouraged to think about what action we can take to protect our environment.
One of the main themes for this year is Beat Plastic Pollution. Anyone who has seen the photos of sea birds, turtles and other marine life entangled and damaged because of the careless disposal of plastic, or the images of once beautiful beaches covered in dirty rubbish, couldn’t fail to be moved into taking action. There’s plenty of things we can all do as individuals to help play our part – from not using disposable plastic straws and choosing reusable water bottles over single use ones, to making sure we use bags for life, and recycling any suitable plastics where possible.
But all businesses, no matter what their size or industry, also have a responsibility to protect the environment as corporate citizens.
Here at McCarthy’s we aim to be as ‘green’ as we can. At McCarthy’s Safe Shred, all of our paper waste is sent off to be recycled. Any confidential waste received from our clients across Yorkshire is first shredded in industrial shredding machines, and then sent off to Recycling UK where it is repurposed into paper towels, facial tissues and toilet paper. Odd to think your loo roll might once have been a top secret government document, or contained the contact details of a celebrity (might as well aim for the glamourous end of the spectrum, rather than it being a boring email about someone’s annual holiday entitlement or a water bill).
Earlier this year we were very proud to hit a milestone of 2,000 tonnes of shredded waste recycled since we launched the shredding side of the business five years ago, and we’re now moving on towards the next big figure!
Our shredding clients are provided with a certificate of destruction and recycling, so they can be confident their waste has been disposed of carefully and responsibly. With GDPR now in force, it’s more important than ever that companies are fully aware of how documentation is handled and ultimately destroyed. The certificate of recycling can also help you with any environmental targets or accreditations you’re looking to achieve in-house.
We can also provide an electronic shredding service – getting rid of hard drives, USBs, CDs and DVDs which hold confidential data, which can often still be accessed by criminals even if they’ve apparently been wiped. Again, you receive a certificate letting you know the items have been properly destroyed and recycled, for peace of mind.
Individuals can also benefit from our shredding service, as much as businesses. If you have a mountain of paperwork which needs safely disposing of, we can send you a sack to be filled, which you then return, sealed, to us in Leeds, and leave the rest to us. It will be shredded and recycled in less time than it would take you to stop your home shredder from overheating after the first batch!
So, no matter who you are, there’s always a step you can take to lead a greener life. And what better day to start than today?