The cost of shredding services depends on:

  • the number of documents you want to shred
  • your location
  • where you want them to be shredded (on-site or off-site)
  • how regularly you want your documents shredding

Below is a guide to the costs of Russell Richardson’s shredding service. These costs are based on the number of paper documents you need destroying, rather than their weight.

Small business and home office paper shredding service—costs

  • From £250 + VAT per year—works out at just £4.80 per week
  • Ideal for small businesses, self-employed or home workers
  • Payment for the year required upfront
  • This service is only available in certain locations

Service includes:

  • three bags with security ties delivered per month
  • one collection per month
  • a certificate of destruction
  • annual duty of care—there’s is an additional charge of £45 + VAT for an annual duty of care but this is optional. You can complete an annual duty of care yourself here and send Russell Richardson a copy if you don’t want to pay the charge.
  • our time-saving process—you don’t need to remove any paper clips, staples, ring binders or other stationery from the documents

Alternatively, if you don’t accumulate enough waste paper for a regular collection, we offer an ad hoc document destruction service from £73 + VAT per collection.

Ad-hoc paper shredding service—costs

  • From £73 + VAT for off-site shredding
  • From £83 + VAT for on-site shredding
  • Ideal if you don’t want to sign up for regular collections
  • A cost-effective choice for clear-outs—e.g. before an office move or end of year
  • You’ll receive an invoice after we collect the paper documents and we’ll give you a signed waste transfer note to ensure you’re only charged for the documents we’ve collected and destroyed

Service includes:

  • secure container/s of your choice, including bags with security ties, lockable wheelie bins and enclosed skips
  • a certificate of destruction
  • your choice of on-site or off-site shredding
  • our time-saving process—you don’t need to remove any paper clips, staples, ring binders or other stationery from the documents

You can find out more about on-site and off-site secure shredding here.

Regular paper shredding service—costs

  • From £62 + VAT per collection
  • Ideal if you accumulate confidential paperwork on a regular basis
  • You’ll receive an invoice after we collect the paper documents and we’ll give you a signed waste transfer note to ensure you’re only charged for the documents we’ve collected and destroyed

Service includes:

  • secure containers (lockable cabinets, bins or skips) that you keep on-site
  • a certificate of destruction
  • a collection calendar highlighting collection dates
  • our time-saving process—you don’t need to remove any paper clips, staples, ring binders or other stationery from the documents

Not sure which document shredding service suits your needs? You can read more about our different paper shredding services, and which one is right for you, in our guide How to decide what kind of document shredding service you need or contact the Russell Richardson team for a bespoke quote.

4 things that affect how much document shredding services cost

If you’re shopping around for a document shredding company to deal with your paper documents, bear in mind that the following factors might influence what a company charges for its shredding service.

  1. Mobile (on-site) document shredding will usually be more expensive than off-site shredding

Mobile shredding services—where your documents are shredded on your premises—tend to cost slightly more than having your paper shredded at off-site shredding facilities.

This is because mobile services require:

  • a specialist van containing shredding equipment
  • security-vetted staff who are specially trained to operate the on-board equipment

It also takes longer to shred paper in a mobile shredding van than it does at off-site shredding facilities.

You can find out more about on-site and off-site secure shredding here.

  1. The cost of security containers isn’t always included in the price

Some companies might charge extra for providing storage facilities such as shredding bags, bins or containers, so check the small print for this.

Russell Richardson’s prices include the cost of hiring secure containers for storing paper documents. We provide shredding bags with security ties and our bins and cabinets are lockable.

  1. The cost for document destruction can be based on volume or weight

At Russell Richardson, however, we price according to volume—in other words, the number of bags, or other containers, of paper you need shredding.

  1. The amount of paper you need shredding

In some cases, the company may offer you a discount if you have a particularly large amount of paper that needs shredding.

Russell Richardson sometimes offers rebates for bulk paper collections—call us on 0800 294 6552 to discuss whether you qualify.

Why you’re unlikely to find free document shredding services

If you need to shred a lot of documents that contain sensitive data, it’s unlikely you’ll find a professional service that does this for free, without compromising on security.

Using professional confidential shredding services means your business waste is disposed of by security-vetted staff operating to a transparent process—you’ll know when and where your data is being shredded and who’s shredding it. And you’ll receive a certificate of destruction afterwards.

Providing a professional, highly secure document destruction service costs money, which is why reputable confidential shredding companies charge for it. Choosing a company that shreds confidential business waste for free could put your business at risk, as the company is highly unlikely to have the training, certifications and infrastructure in place to deal with your waste correctly.

Reputable companies will usually provide secure shredding bags, bins or cabinets free of charge and then collect them, but you will need to pay for the overall service.

Russell Richardson offers a range of confidential waste disposal services, so you can:

  • choose the right one for your business’s needs
  • avoid paying over the odds
  • have the peace of mind that your confidential documents are being shredded securely

For more information on confidential waste and paper shredding services for businesses, visit our page What is confidential waste and how can I ensure my business disposes of it securely?

If you want to find out more about media and IT shredding, including hard drive shredding, read our guide Hard drive destruction services: what they do and how they protect your data.

Russell Richardson operates shredding services UK wide—to find out more, visit our locations page, or for a quote, contact the team on 0800 294 6552.

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