South Africa's first POPI compliant shredding service now available

Guy Kimble

"With the forthcoming Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act, we have seen a spike in demand for a secure method of destroying documents, post offsite storage requirements," says Guy Kimble, MD of Metrofile Records Management. "This is why we have enhanced our document shredding service offering to include a POPI compliant, secure shredding service to all our clients.

"Our clients now have a choice to continue having their documents recycled through a managed process or to securely destroy the documents at a minimal additional cost per box. This is required in terms of PCI DSS and POPI laws and compliance is a must for all businesses managing any personal information."

The Secure Shredding service ensures that information and personal records are destroyed by means of cross shredding in a secure managed process that will serve to mitigate the onerous responsibilities of business owners in maintaining confidentiality. In addition, certificates of destruction are made available online immediately following the secure destruction process shredding of the documents.

This new service is particularly useful for organisations that form part of an international umbrella company and need to tie in with its records management mandate.

In light of the looming POPI violation fines, it is imperative to know that no industry is exempt from the requirements and therefore secure destruction of records applies to all business across all industries and market sectors. "Non-compliance with POPI could have severe consequences for businesses in the form of fines by the Information Regulator, reputational damage legal costs, and in some cases, even liquidation."

Metrofile Holdings is the majority stakeholder in Cleardata, South Africa's leading secure shredding service that caters for the requirements of the national and global information protection laws. "The Secure Shredding service will be facilitated by Cleardata and is the most secure method of information destruction available to businesses in South Africa," concludes Kimble.