What is Mobile Shredding?

The term “mobile shredding” is the act of shredding materials while also being mobile – or moveable. Shred trucks are the solution for the mobile shredding of paper, plastics, e-waste, and other materials for size reduction.

The History of Mobile Shredding

Mobile shredding became more prominent as laws around personal information protection surfaced. Many of us have heard of HIPAA, the healthcare act passed by Congress almost 25 years ago. Identity theft was on the rise – before internet hacking was a “thing” – the theft was occurring from personal information listed on documents being pinched for thieves’ benefit. In 2003 and 2005, the FTC passed laws regarding how businesses were to handle documents such as credit reports that contained consumer information. Mobile shredding became more popular as companies were being held liable for securing these documents and handling them safely at the end of their life.  

Why Outsource Shredding?

The benefit of a business hiring a mobile shredding service – typically known to the layperson as document destruction or information destruction – is that they don’t need the resources on-site to do the shredding themselves. A large office shredder has a big footprint while a person has to feed the material into the shredder.

The solution is to use a service that comes regularly to destroy the documents, CD’s, and/or other memory drives through shredding them inside the truck body while parked outside the business. The organization NAID has been pivotal in this the growth of this service over the decades, as offers a certification program for mobile shredding companies. Being NAID AAA-certified means a shredding company is aware of the latest regulations and best practices for handling and destroying sensitive information.

Another reason to outsource shredding services is that information destruction companies sell the shredded paper product to recyclers. The most recycled paper goes back into more paper (like office paper), but can also be used to create tissue, cardstock, magazine stock, and even cardboard stock.

In early 2020 Vecoplan completed its North Carolina production facility expansion dedicated exclusively to mobile shredding products. Increased demand for shred trucks with the pierce-and-tear shredding technology, which is preferred by some customers for increased security purposes. Vecoplan shred trucks have played an important role in the history of mobile shredding systems and have helped evolve mobile shredding technologies.