Ultra-High Security Granulation

Our ultra-high-security granulation service ensures your confidential information is destroyed to the highest possible standards of security available.

UK-wide granulation services for the government and defence sectors

Secure granulation is the ideal destruction solution for highly confidential and classified information, such as Classified, Secret, and Top Secret government documents, for instance, documents regarding national security. Granulation surpasses the requirements of GDPR and EN 15713 standards and is the highest security service we offer.

2mm shred size

Our granulator can rip your documents into minuscule 2mm-5mm fragments, surpassing DIN 66399 Level P-7 particle size requirements.

Enhanced vetting

With our high security and granulation services, you can request operatives with higher vetting – e.g. CTC or SC clearance.

On-site and off-site

Shred Station is the only UK shredding provider to offer granulation services both on and off-site.

Chain of custody documents provided

We issue a Waste Transfer Note and Certificate of Destruction after every service for your audit trail.

Key features of our document granulation service

✅ Tiny particle size
With our specialist granulators, we can destroy your documents into tiny 2mm-5mm fragments.

✅ CTC and SC clearance staff are available
All operatives are vetted to BS7858 standards but, for granulation customers, we can deploy our CTC and SC-cleared staff.

✅ Additional penetration security
Our mobile granulator vehicle has a double-lined body for additional penetration security.

✅ Smaller chassis for easy access
Our mobile granulator also has the lowest clearance of any on-site shredding truck. This allows for access to more loading bays and secure areas.

✅ Witness the granulation
With our mobile granulation service, you can witness the destruction from ground level through our mesh security screen.

✅ Fully monitored by GPS and CCTV
As with all of our services, granulation is performed under constant CCTV, and our vehicles are fully locatable with live GPS and telematics tracking.

As well as having a document granulator, our on-site granulation vehicle also has an onboard degausser for magnetic media and a hard drive shredder. Our on-site granulator is the only vehicle of its kind in the UK; you will not find a more secure shredding vehicle anywhere else.

Shred Station’s mobile ultra-high security granulator service complies with all BS EN 15713 shredding standards. We are audited against these standards by the BSI, and you can view our certifications here. Nothing we shred goes to landfill, and 100% of paper is recycled at UK mills.

For more information about our ultra-high security granulation service, contact our team.

2mm Ultra-High Security Granulation Service

Frequently asked questions

If your query hasn’t been answered on this page, please feel free to head over to our FAQs page for more information.

What is a granulator?

A granulator is a machine that can break down materials into very small fragments.

The easiest way to imagine a granulator is to imagine the inside of your washing machine. Imagine it had thick rotating blades going around the drum, like a fan. Granulator blades are very sharp and cut materials into tiny pieces by scraping them against the edge of the drum. Similar to how your washing machine’s drum has holes to let water in and out, granulators also have a screen with holes in it. This screen stops fragments from exiting the granulator until they are small enough to get through the holes.

How is a granulator different from a shredder?

Industrial shredders work by rotating sets of blades working against each other, ripping paper into small pieces as it passes through the blades. A granulator works slightly differently.

Imagine your washing machine, with holes all around the drum to let water in and out. A granulator is sort of like this, but with an extremely sharp blade that rotates against the drum, scraping paperwork against the metal edges. This process does take longer than a typical shredder would, but it results in a much smaller particle size – around 2mm x 2mm. The holes in the drum work like a shredder screen, only allowing materials to pass through the holes once they are small enough. While granulators aren’t technically shredders, they are essentially the most secure “shredders” available in terms of particle size.

Granulation is typically only needed by organisations that process Top Secret or other classified government documents that pertain to national security. For almost everything else, standard shredding services are sufficient.

How long does granulation take?

Granulation is a very slow process – around 50x slower than a standard shredding service would take. We typically recommend reserving a full day for our granulation services to allow sufficient time for all of your materials to be destroyed.

How does on-site granulation work, and can I witness it?

For on-site granulation, we will drive to your premises in our bespoke on-site granulation vehicle and destroy the materials outside your premises. Your representatives are very welcome to witness the granulation, but please note that granulation takes a very long time. We recommend reserving a full day for granulation services to ensure all of your materials are destroyed.

Can I witness the service take place?

You can witness the destruction of your materials when choosing an on-site service option. Off-site services occur at our high-security destruction facilities, which are not open to the public for security and safety purposes.

What sort of organisations use Shred Station?

Our shredding and destruction services are approved for UK government use. Our customers include defence agencies, police forces, central and local government, embassies, the armed forces, NHS trusts, and many other public sector organisations. We also service private businesses, charities, NGOs, small businesses, sole traders, and residential customers. No job is too big or too small, and we treat all customers the same.

Do you comply with EN 15713 or DIN 66399?

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.

High-security shredding

If granulation feels excessive, but our standard paper shredding service isn’t quite what you have in mind, our high-security shredding service could be ideal for you. As with our granulation service, high-security services are available off-site and on-site, and a Certificate of Destruction is provided after every service.

Learn more about our high-security shredding services.

Our standard, secure service

If you’re unsure that you quite need to go to the extremes of a granulation service or even a high-security service, our standard paper shredding service is more than sufficient for the majority of confidential documents, as well as non-paper materials.

Explore our shredding services page for more information.