Do I just chuck this in the bin then?
This is a brief guide to disposing of documents.
Disposing of paper documents
Is it confidential?
Some things you throw away will be confidential. This could include personal
information about staff or students, drafts of policies that are not yet
approved, or copies of minutes that are not normally published. Please do not
put these into the bin or recycling.
Contact Estate
Management; just ring or e-mail their Helpdesk. Tell them where you are and
that you have confidential waste for shredding. They will come and collect it
and take it away to be safely destroyed.
If the material really is very confidential then you can go with the
colleague from Estate Management who collects the waste and oversee it being
shredded. You’ll need to let the Helpdesk know that you are intending to do
this.
Once material has been identified for shredding bag it up and keep the bag
somewhere secure until it’s collected. Do not ever leave confidential waste in
corridors or other public spaces.
Are you sure you want to throw it out?
Please check carefully that you are throwing out the item you mean to dispose
of. Check that you haven’t got other documents accidentally caught up in the
same folder or paperclip. Check that the retention
schedule allows you to throw the item away.
Recycle
If paper isn’t confidential and you’re sure you can get rid of it, then
please think of the environment and recycle!
Disposing of electronic documents
E-mail
Don’t forget that e-mail proliferates. The copy in your inbox could be just
one of many. Check your sent items, deleted items and draft folders. It’s
useful to empty out your sent items and deleted items on a regular basis in any
case as these count towards your total e-mail quota.
Documents on your computer
When you delete a document on your computer it hasn’t really gone anywhere at
all. Normally it has just been relocated to the recycle bin. You should empty
the recycle bin on a regular basis. Technically it is still possible to retrieve
the document, but for most normal purposes we can assume that if it’s removed
from the recycle bin it has gone. When your PC is decommissioned or passed on IS
will always ensure that data left on the hard drive is overwritten to make it
hard for anyone else to access it.
Documents on removable media
For a CD, memory key (USB drive) it’s just as easy to physically break it to
prevent future access. ISS helpdesk for advice.
Find out more