Jeff:
Welcome to the list! Do you shred all your records for destruction or only those considered confidential or containing personal information? The cost is much less if you contract with a recycling company or pulp mill for the destruction of non-confidential or non-private records.
Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, FAI)
Records Manager
Information Technology Division
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jeff Collins
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 2:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [RM] In-House Records Shredding
Hello,
As this is my first post, a quick introduction: my name is Jeff Collins
and I have been in the records and information management field for a
whopping 18 months! I have master’s degrees in both history and
library science and am currently employed as a Public Records Archivist
at the Connecticut State Library. I have responsibility for providing
records and information management services to the state agencies in the
Executive branch of Connecticut state government. This includes writing
records retention schedules; establishing guidelines, and standards;
conducting training; and supervising the State Records Center.
(I have already checked the RECMGMT-L Listserv archive and found some
good information.)
Our organization is researching the possibility of moving shredding
services in-house. To contextualize our situation, the Connecticut
State Records Center houses nearly 80,000 boxes of inactive records of
state agencies. These are standard 1.0 cubic foot records cartons and
the records are almost exclusively paper. The facility was converted
from a root cellar in 1958 and has very little free space. We currently
do not charge fees for any of our services, although we have proposed a
chargeback system in the past with no success. Our annual destruction
costs have averaged about $7,000 a year and we have contracted with
private vendors (they come to our facility, physically remove the boxes,
shred the records off-site, and then provide a certificate of
destruction).
Due to severe budgetary reductions, we are unable to destroy records
for the foreseeable future. However, we may have access to money from a
separate fund dedicated to the purchase of equipment. Oh the irony!
So, we are researching the return on investment (ROI) of bringing the
shredding services in-house. We are cognizant that there are many
issues (e.g., space for equipment, proper electrical wiring, will the
machine shred the entire box or will we have to empty and pre-sort the
contents?, the cost and space of baling machine, and what to do with the
recycled product).
Specifically, for those of you that have researched the ROI of bringing
shredding services in-house, what was your determination? Of those of
you that operate shredding equipment in-house, do you have any advice?
We would love to hear any stories/advice, anecdotal or other (especially
government records centers).
Thanks!
Jeff
Jeffrey E. Collins, Public Records Archivist
Connecticut State Library, 231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 757-6513 / [log in to unmask]
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