New San Diego Recycling Ordinance & Dumpter Diving

Just like me, you probably just received or will receive your winter issue of the "Curbsider" from the City of San Diego. And, most likely, even if you opened it up, it quickly went in the trash after a just as quick glance. However, since such a large part of my business deals with recycling, I tend to read these little brochures cover to cover whenever it comes out and now here it sits on my office desk.

For the most part, this brochure is fairly uneventful and you didn't miss much if in fact you did just toss it in the trash - or in your blue recycling bin. But one item I did find interesting is that:

Beginning January 1, 2009, multifamily homes with 50 units or more and commercial properties of 10,000 square feet or more are required to recycle. Then on January 1, 2010, all residents and businesses are required to recycle. Some exemptions will be granted.

I thought that this would be a great opportunity to talk about how just simply recycling is not the same as securely shredding documents. Throwing sensitive documents in the recycling bin or even in the trash does not protect you from dumpster divers. There is big business for dumpster divers who are just conniving and devious enough to want to search through your trash.

Just about anything can be of value to these lowlifes. From items that seem pretty innocent: grocery lists, birthdays cards, and sticky notes. To other items of higher value: phone bills, cable bills, gas & electricity bills, and bank statements.

These identity thieves will use the information on the innocent items noted above to provide a level of familiarity with potential identity theft victim. For example: A thief may ascertain your child's name and birthday from a discarded birthday card along with the name and address of whoever sent it - perhaps grandma and grandpa. This familiarity often lowers the guard of the victim and loosens them up to readily providing needed information to an identity thief via a phone call. If the identity thief also has possession of an old phone bill, there is greater opportunity to pry from an unsuspecting victim more valuable information such as passwords, account numbers, and social security numbers.

If you leave the door open just a crack, leave it to the criminal mind to put two and two together in an attempt to steal your identity.

This is not only important to individuals, but it is also extremely important that business protect their employees, their customers, and themselves.

Remember, your trash, including your recycling bin, when left on the curb is open to public viewing.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the decision California vs. Greenwood that the "expectation of privacy in trash left for collection in an area accessible to the public... is unreasonable."

Consequently, when you throw something in the trash, anyone that happens to come across your documents is able to take whatever they like. It's great to recycle. But be sure to protect yourself against identity theft by properly destroying your documents before you send them to the recycling bin.

Regards,

Mike

My First Blog

I've finally gotten around to setting up my first blog and actually posting to it. Actually, I initially set up this blog over a couple of years ago but never had the chance to get things going. Two years ago I was just starting Total Secure Shredding, Inc. and to say the least, I've been extremely busy. Since that time, we have expanded from a home based business to leasing a location in Point Loma right behind the San Diego Sports Arena. We've also grown from one mobile shredding truck to three plus a cargo van.

I hope to use this blog as a companion to the business website where I can comment and discuss various items pertaining to the document shredding industry, the recycling industry, miscellaneous items relating to Total Secure Shredding, and anything else that may have my interest - after all it's my blog and I can do whatever I'd like!

For the most part, I'd like to be able to provide in-depth answers to the various questions we receive with regard to paper shredding. It may seem like a fairly dull subject, but with Identity Theft such a big concern these days, secure paper shredding is becoming a more and more important subject. And as much as we would like to make this a paperless society, the more we try it seems the more paper we have that needs shredding - no thanks to the United States Post Office which continually is delivering sensitive documents (endless amounts of credit card offers just for starters) to your front door.

So if anyone has any questions with regard to secure paper shredding, please feel free to comment to any of my posts or send me an email. All emails go directly to my inbox - I'm not sure how wise a decision this might be, but I'll try it for now.

Regards,

Mike