With over 30 years of experience, here are Ardington Archive’s Top 10 Tips for considering the Environment when archiving documents:
- Only archive the necessary documents, not the packaging such as lever arch, hanging and box files.
- Before archiving information, take out all duplicate copies and any unnecessary paper and recycle them.
- By using archive boxes with dividers, the need to include 4 lever arch files, typically costing £3.50 each, is removed. The resulting space saving of up to 25% per archive box means storing 3 boxes instead of 4.
- Ardington Archives transport pricing policy is designed to reduce van trips by picking up full loads.
- Use archive boxes made of recyclable cardboard. Nowadays it is possible to use archive boxes consisting of over 80% recycled cardboard without loss of strength or visual appearance.
- Avoid using plastic folders in document storage since these cannot be recycled easily at present.
- When retrieving information from archive boxes, consider using our online security vault scanning system instead of transporting the whole box. This reduces your environmental footprint by saving transport (and your labour) costs.
- Scanning is uneconomic when very large quantities of documentation are involved.
- Destroy archives by shredding, not burning. The shredded paper and card can then go for pulping and recycling.
- Ensure that documents are destroyed when the retention due dates are reached.
Ardington Archives is passionate about the environment and we keep exploring avenues to improve our systems and services to limit the environmental impact.
