LIMERICK City and County Council will host a special event that to allow local businesses and householders have their confidential documents shredded free of charge.
The ‘Free Shred Event’, organised in association with data destruction firm Security in Shredding, will be held at the Mungret Recycling Centre on this Saturday, January 27 from 11am to 3.30pm.
It marks European Data Protection Day which promotes good waste management practices and awareness of the incoming General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Experts will be available to answer data protection and waste management queries, and to provide best practice guidance for SME’s and householders destroying end-of-life data. People are encouraged to bring a maximum of two bin bags of confidential paper material, which can include personal information, bills, customer records, insurance records and income statements, to be shredded on site.
Council Environmental Awareness Officer Sinead McDonnell said the event was an ideal opportunity to dispose of highly personal and confidential information in a proper manner.
“The purpose of this event is twofold – firstly, it will create awareness of Data Protection and enable those who may not have facilities or funds for such a service to ensure secure destruction of their data. Secondly, waste brought to Mungret Recycling Centre will improve the waste recycling figures for the region and consequently reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.”
Security in Shredding general manager Albert Kelly said that the introduction of the GDPR in May of this year means that compliance has become essential due to the significant fines for non-compliance.
“Business owners and members of the public should be aware of the risks when dealing with personal data, not just risk identification but also advice on how to protect their individual personal identity and, their businesses future.
“It will allow SMEs to be confident they are following the letter of law when it comes to the destruction of confidential material,” he concluded.
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