Paper Shredding Has a Long History!
Paper shredding may appear like a routine mechanical process, but the method has been in practice for over a century. Today, many companies use professional paper shredding services for data destruction, to eliminate risk of misuse. Not only is safe disposal of data a measure of a company’s commitment to its clients, customers and its internal security, it is also a legal requirement. Interestingly, the compulsion that drives companies to use commercial paper shredders today is the same one that existed a hundred years ago: to protect oneself against opponents, rivals, and rebellious or disloyal workers.
5 Interesting Facts about Paper Shredding
- The idea for a paper shredder came to Brooklyn-based entrepreneur and inventor, Abbot Augustus Low in 1906. Paper had already become an everyday commodity used by printing presses, publishing houses, government offices and households. Low filed a patent application in 1909 for a “waste paper receptacle” but it was never actually manufactured.
- The first physical shredding machine was invented and manufactured in Germany in 1935 by a simple, hard-working man called Adolf Ehinger who printed anti-Nazi propaganda material in his free time. To protect himself from inquiry, he hit upon the idea of a hand-cranked shredder modeled on a pasta maker. His invention caught on. Ehinger first started selling his shredders locally, and then to government agencies and financial institutions.
- Paper shredding techniques evolved in 1979, when several Iranian revolutionaries stormed into the American embassy and seized piles of shredded paper. Since the embassy’s shredders could only produce long, thin strips of paper, the revolutionaries were successful in piecing together the secret contents. Post the incident, cross-cut and other advanced blades were used in shredders.
- The most advanced paper shredding machine models cut documents into pieces measuring as small as 3mm x 9mm.
- Paper shredding helps the environment because 100 percent of shredded content is recycled and turned into daily-use products like toilet paper, bath towels, egg cartons, writing pads, lamp shades, shopping bags, and more. Remember, recycling just 1 ton of paper alone saves 17 trees!
Choose a trusted NAID AAA Certified company to address your paper and digital media shredding needs. Call TITAN Mobile Shredding and speak to our data destruction professionals at (866) 848-2699 today or contact us online to request your free quote.
