“We have (and use) three of your shredders – all are rock-solid reliable, and an invaluable part of what we do. Indeed, we can’t do without them.”
—Don W., U.S. Military Client
Tag: briquettor
A Note on Dave Carroll, Sr. Service Technician
September 21, 2020 at 2:37 pm
“Dave was exceptional! From the moment we met, he was very professional, friendly, and very easy to work with. We had issues with our disintegrator and Dave worked through everything to make sure we were up and running again. Dave walked me through the entire disintegrator and briquettor and he explained how everything worked in great detail. He showed me what he was doing and why. When asked if he was going to lunch, he replied that he was going to work through lunch to get us up and running — and he did! We hope that Dave is recognized by your company for his exceptional professionalism, work ethic, and commitment to getting the job done.”
—Federal Client
One Large Step in the Green Direction
November 29, 2019 at 4:17 pm“We don’t want it; it’s tough to handle, it’s messy and there is little recyclable value.” I bet this is probably along the lines of what you’ve heard from recycling centers about taking your classified shred particles. I guess you can’t really blame them considering this confetti like particle can create a large mess with one drop of a shred bag.
Recently, the concept of briquetting has become very popular with recycling centers. Instead of sending the classified shred particles to a landfill, they are able to mix these briquettes in with their other bales of shredded paper, and send them in to be recycled.
This is an extremely important process in today’s society because of the positive effect it has the environment. By eliminating the process of sending your classified waste to the landfill, you are taking a step in the right direction. Depending on how much classified waste you produce, this could be a very significant decision.
On another note, we have also seen several customers implement the briquetting system to eliminate other costs. Some customers have worked with local recycling companies to implement a system where they work together. Due to the volume of briquettes this customer creates, a recycling company has offered to pick up the briquettes free of charge, provide the customer with free carts to collect the briquettes, and also pay them a small amount on the back end. This has saved the customer a significant amount as well as eliminated their container pulls and hauling costs! Although it may not seem like a lot at first, these numbers add up over time.
Team this briquetting system up with an NSA approved degausser and hard drive shredder and you have the ultimate classified base destruction / recycling facility. This puts you one step closer to being LEED certified!
Net Zero: SEM can Help with Army Solid Waste Goals
June 11, 2019 at 4:16 pmFor those of you who are unfamiliar with the US Army Net Zero Program, it is an environmentally friendly program that was designed in 2011 with an initial goal to strive for 25-Net Zero Installations by 2030. The term Net Zero refers to managing the existing federal energy, water and waste programs and turning them into sustainable practices for the future.
The waste programs approach is to reduce, reuse and recover waste stream to ultimately convert them to resource value so there is zero landfill throughout the year. By following these guidelines, the army’s goal is to eliminate the need for landfills, protect human health, optimize the use of limited resources and keep the environment clean.
So where does SEM fit into this? Although society at large is moving more into the digital realm for data storage, truth is many still prefer, or are required, to print out documents. In a classified environment, once these documents reach end-of-life, they must be destroyed in a way that meets NSA mandated standards. For paper, that means turning the material into a dust like particle.
Believe it or not, most Installations are producing over 100,000 lbs. of classified paper per year. If this confetti like particle could be recycled then there would be no issues. However, since the particle size is so small, there is little recycling value due to the mess it creates. This means that most of the paper is heading for a landfill.
But SEM has a solution, briquetting systems! A briquetting system is designed to take this dust like particle and pack it into a small cylindrical briquettes which creates a 9:1 volume reduction. Such a large volume reduction can truly save money in the long run with compactor/dumpster hauls and drop-offs. More importantly, once this particle is turned into a briquette, it is not only easier to handle but it can also be reused. SEM has found that recyclers have multiple uses for these briquettes that are ultimately better for the environment than going directly into a landfill.
If your facility is producing over a hundred thousand lbs. of paper throughout the course of the year, you may want to seriously consider a one of SEM’s disintegrator and briquettor systems. Don’t hesitate, feel free to contact us immediately and find out which system is best for your application: info@semshred.com!