Red Kitchen Basket

ARE WE COMPROMISING OUR SAFETY IN OUR EFFORTS TO RECYCLE?

Our 'green' environmental efforts could be putting our safety at risk.

We may be unwittingly exposing ourselves to identity theft by not taking proper precautions when tossing all our paper into the recycling bins.Do you ever simply grab the pile of junk mail and old envelopes and put it in the recycling basket?  Or scoop up wads of old accounts, medical records and even bank statements after a spring clean into a cardboard box to dump in the local enviro skip? 

Recycling is vital but careful vigilance of how and what we throw out is vital for our own safety. Our good intentions may be having the opposite effect - and be harmful to our own safety.

Identity theft is a global issue, said to be the fastest-growing crime in America, and can affect anyone, from the highest profile celebrity to the man in the street.

It has been said that every minute, someone in the US falls victim to identity fraud, whilst figures from the UK's Identity Fraud Steering Committee in 2008 showed that identity fraud cost that economy 1.2 billion pounds in a single year.Recently, Brian Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank fell victim to identity fraud after his wife's purse was stolen.No-one is exempt.

Have a closer look at some of the junk mail that comes through your mailbox.It may surprise you to see how many times your personal details are repeated.Putting those types of papers into a recycling bin where they can be readily accessed by criminals makes you a soft target.

Anne Prince of established Perth print finishing supplies company, Laidlaw, says a simple home shredder can be all that it takes to stay out of reach of criminals."A home shredder is essential and should be included with other domestic appliances such as the TV and fridge. 

“We’re very good at cutting up our old credit cards,” she said."We're just not that good at disposing of the letter that comes with the credit card, which also contains vital personal information." Entry level strip cut shredding machines are ideal for home use as they can easily handle credit cards, plastic and staples, but it's advisable to buy equipment from a reputable dealer such as print finishing equipment supplier, Perth based Laidlaw, as they offer the necessary technical back-up, training and after sales service.

There are basically two types of shredders for home use, either strip cut which is the easiest to maintain or cross-cut, which dices paper by cutting it into two directions.Anne suggests that documents should be fed into strip cut machines from the top to the bottom and not sideways, as information can still be read in some of the strips.The following items are just some of the things that ought to be shredded : bank statements, bills, junk mail, medical accounts, income tax information and credit card information.

And shredding won't diminish any recycling efforts.It is still paper - it just looks different and is useless to criminals !   

“The scale of identity fraud is staggering,” Prince says."Prevention is by far a better route than facing the mammoth job of sorting it out after the event.If you don't want to find your life in shreds, it's worth talking to Perth shredding machine supplier, Laidlaw, for professional advice on what equipment is best suited to your needs.You can still be green without seeing red.”

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