How much does it cost to have paper shredded in the UK?

The cost of your service can depend on a variety of factors. For instance: Do you want the service on-site at your premises, or off-site at a secure destruction centre? Is it just a one-off requirement you have, or do you need regular services? How many bags or boxes do you have for shredding? All of these questions will help our sales team to find the best and most cost-effective option for your needs. You can submit a quote request by clicking the 'get a quote' button at the top of your screen.

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Public sector and government

We provide public-sector data destruction services UK-wide to many different types of customers. We perform secure and eco-friendly government document shredding services for central and local government, as well as public sector organisations like educational institutions, the armed forces, emergency services, the NHS, transportation networks, and culture and heritage institutions.

Call: 01603 513 271

NPSA-approved

Our standard shredding services are NPSA-approved for UK government use. We also offer high-security shredding services and granulation services for classified materials.

BS EN 15713 and GDPR compliant

We perform all services in line with BS EN 15713 and GDPR standards. This includes vetting all staff to at least BS 7858 and operating with a strict set of security protocols.

Certificate of Destruction

A Certificate of Destruction is provided with every service. For on-site services, this is issued immediately. For off-site services, it is issued within 72 hours due to the additional admin involved.

CarbonNeutral® certified

We are an ISO 14001 and CarbonNeutral® certified company. We recycle 100% of paper at UK mills, operate with a Zero to Landfill policy, and can provide customers with environmental reports.

NPSA-approved government shredding

When it comes to government data destruction, security is paramount. This is the case for everything from everyday printouts to classified documents. Shred Station’s secure destruction services are approved for UK government use.

All Shred Station employees must undergo rigorous vetting and security checks in accordance with BS 7858, as well as a DBS check. If a higher level of vetting is required, for instance with Top Secret documents, we also offer high-security document granulation services and have a select number of staff vetted to CTC and SC level. We also have many staff cleared by Non-Police Personnel Vetting (NPPV).

As further demonstration of our diligence, our on-site and off-site destruction services are approved by the NPSA for UK government use. This covers:

Government document shredding
Government hard drive shredding
Destruction of digital memory
Floppy disks
Magnetic tape
Microform
Optical disks
SIM cards
Smart cards.

For any government materials you need destroyed, Shred Station’s specialist government shredding services guarantee total security. We are a GCA-approved supplier and can assist with any confidential waste your organisation processes.

Councils

As well as central government, our services are perfect for local government. Our community of customers includes many parish councils, town councils, county councils and district councils. We can operate on a frequency that suits your needs, with one-off shredding services and regular shredding services available.

Public service

As well as shredding public sector records, we can assist with all public sector IT disposal, IT recycling, equipment disposal, uniform disposal, and the destruction of lost or unwanted items. There isn’t much we can’t destroy. If you’re unsure, feel free to reach out to our team for a quick quote, or give us a call on 01603 513 271 if you have any questions.

We perform public sector data destruction UK-wide, and can assist with any size requirement. We are highly experienced with national, multi-site contracts and will ensure your sites are never left without confidential waste containers if switching to us from another supplier.

Our process

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Think about your organisation’s needs

Consider what types of confidential waste containers your organisation needs, how many you need, and how often you want them emptied. We can help your procurement and facilities managers estimate quantities with a free site survey if needed.

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Mobilisation plan

For large, regular shredding requirements, we’ll work with you to create a mobilisation plan. This will include any container installation dates, service start dates, creating a service schedule, and noting the contact details for your site representatives.

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Our security-vetted staff arrive

Our team will arrive at your location. We’ll either collect your materials for off-site shredding or shred them on-site for your representatives to witness. At the point of collection, a member of your team will need to sign a Waste Transfer Note. Then, all material will be wheeled to our trucks in locked bins.

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Shredding takes place

If you’ve chosen on-site services, your material will be shredded immediately onboard the shredding truck. You can witness this if required. At this point, a Certificate of Destruction will be issued via email. If you’ve chosen off-site shredding, we’ll take your items back to our secure facilities to destroy them.

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CCTV, GPS, and telematics-tracked transport

Your material will be transported under constant CCTV, with GPS and telematics tracking. We transport and process everything in line with BS EN 15713 security standards. Materials booked for off-site shredding will be destroyed on arrival, and a Certificate of Destruction will be issued.

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Recycling

We’ll mix your fragments with tens of thousands of others in a security process known as commingling. Fragments are then compressed in an industrial baler. We send our bales to recycling facilities in the UK, with 100% of the paper recycled and nothing sent to landfill.

Why security matters for public sector shredding

Although many public-sector organisations and government departments are committed to going paperless, a large number of confidential records and documents are still held in physical form. These must be managed in line with GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Records held on electronic media and computer hardware are, of course, subject to the same legislation, for which secure hard drive destruction and media destruction services are recommended

All public sector organisations need to consider how they will prevent sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands. A key part of this is ensuring the secure destruction and disposal of confidential records and materials when they are no longer required.

Shred Station’s data destruction services for the public sector can help to ensure all types of public sector organisations comply with data protection legislation. All our government and public-sector shredding - regardless of what needs to be destroyed - is carried out in accordance with European Standard EN 15713.

For classified government document destruction, please explore our high-security and granulation services.

Public sector shredding frameworks

You can find us on many public sector purchasing frameworks, including:

Crown Commercial Services
NHS SBS Framework Agreement
NHS National Services Scotland
Health Trust Europe
ESPO
Procurement Services - Supply of Waste Management Services
NHS North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative
London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC)
NHS London Procurement Partnership
Constellia
Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC)
Bluelight Commercial
YPO - FM Services

We are available for direct award on many of these frameworks, and will happily submit bids where direct award isn’t your preferred option. You can also come to us firsthand for a no-obligation quote.

We cover the whole of the UK

We can provide services for the public sector and government, UK-wide.

Select a region from the map or the drop-down:

Frequently asked questions

Please see below some of our frequently asked questions. If you still have questions, please feel free to visit our FAQs page or give us a call.

Yes, you can. We can collect everything you need to destroy. However, certain materials must be kept separately from each other. This ensures we can recycle as much as possible after shredding takes place. Our sales team will talk you through the process. We typically recommend off-site destruction for multiple materials to achieve the best value for money.

Yes. We are flexible to all sorts of requirements. We have some customers who require daily services and others who may only need a service every couple of months.

We also offer flexibility for customers such as schools, which need regular services but are closed over the summer.

Yes, we can provide services at all of your company's locations. We can also provide multi-site reporting, helping your business to analyse its waste output by site or for your organisation as a whole.

We perform our services in line with EN 15713 standards (the European Standard) rather than DIN 66399 (the German Standard). This is because EN 15713 covers all aspects of shredding service security, including shred size, whereas DIN only covers shred size. You can find more information about the differences between DIN 66399 and EN 15713 in our help guide.

The cost of your service can depend on a variety of factors. For instance:

Do you want the service on-site at your premises, or off-site at a secure destruction centre?
Is it just a one-off requirement you have, or do you need regular services?
How many bags or boxes do you have for shredding?

All of these questions will help our sales team to find the best and most cost-effective option for your needs. You can submit a quote request by clicking the 'get a quote' button at the top of your screen.

Shred Station’s pricing is often the most cost-effective option available to the UK market. Our coverage is UK-wide, and the placement of our destruction centres means our operating costs are much lower than other shredding companies. As a result, we can pass these savings on to you.

Shredding costs can depend on a variety of factors including the volume you have, whether you want it destroyed on-site or off-site, if it’s something you need done regularly or just as a one-off requirement, and if you have any other specific requirements such as destruction outside of office hours. Our sales team will be able to talk you through the best, most cost-effective option for you.

For a limited time, we are also offering free bulk shredding services for volumes over one tonne of white paper delivered to our destruction centres. This service must be pre-booked in advance through our sales team. View our shredding offers page to view all current offers we have available.

Once a regular schedule is agreed upon, your service will be automatically added to our routes. You don't have to call us; our services will operate seamlessly and we can provide a dated service schedule document in advance for you to reference.

As a regular customer, we can also set you up to use our online portal. On the portal, you can view your upcoming collection dates, past collection dates, as well as all of your Waste Transfer Notes and Certificates of Destruction.

On the day of your service, we'll also send out a live service tracker to your site representative. This means you don't have to work your entire day around our visit, or call to find out where we are.

For larger contracts, we will create a bespoke mobilisation plan. This will include a timeline chart with key milestone dates.

We will ensure a smooth transition by working with your incumbent provider to confirm final shred dates. We will arrange regular calls with the incumbent supplier and your sites to confirm delivery dates and any site-specific information. We will also ensure your sites are not left without confidential waste containers. Temporary containers can be arranged if incumbent suppliers take their containers away unexpectedly or ahead of schedule.

All mobilisation projects receive Director-level leadership and will be orchestrated by an experienced Account Manager.

Shred Station is a lifetime carbon-neutral certified company. That means every service we provide is delivered with neutralised carbon emissions. We undergo an annual assessment of our carbon emissions to earn this certification. Any emissions we haven’t yet been able to reduce, we offset through strictly verified offsetting projects in line with the requirements of The CarbonNeutral Protocol. We publish these assessments and the projects we use on our website for full transparency.

We know that offsetting alone isn’t enough. That’s why we take many steps to reduce emissions and support the Sustainable Development Goals. This includes operating with a Zero to Landfill policy and using low-emission vehicles. You can read more about our commitments to reducing emissions in the 'about' section of our website.

We offer our regular customers MI reporting. These reports detail the weight of paper waste collected and the environmental impact data showing the reduction in impact (including CO2 emissions and water saved) by recycling your paper waste with us. We can also provide more bespoke reporting, including costings as well as weight per service.

We provide these reports as Excel file via email for easy search and manipulation of the data. These are provided upon request to [email protected] - or we can provide these reports weekly or monthly, if required.