Confidential Waste Company
Confidential waste disposal for offices, practices, schools and firms across the UK. Paper and drives collected under lock, destroyed to BS EN 15713, and a certificate for every job.
Collection
Your office
Locked consoles or sealed sacks are emptied or swapped by vetted staff. Nothing confidential is handled loose.
Recorded: Container ID, date, operative
Transit
Sealed vehicle
Material travels locked and sealed, straight to destruction. Or skip this step: shred it in a vehicle at your door.
Recorded: Seal numbers, route, times
Shred
Secure facility or on site
Destroyed to the security level agreed for your material, under the BS EN 15713:2023 code of practice.
Recorded: Security level, particle size
Certificate
Your records
A certificate of destruction you check against what was sent and file, as the ICO expects.
Recorded: Reference that ties back to collection
What needs destroying?
Most organisations need a regular collection, plus the odd clear-out. Each page covers how it works, what to check and typical prices.
- Every week or monthRegular collection
Locked consoles and bins on site, emptied on a schedule, a certificate every time.
- OnceOne-off purge
Archive boxes, old files and office moves cleared in a single visit.
- At your doorOn-site shredding
Shredded in a vehicle outside while you watch, for material that must not travel whole.
- DevicesHard drive destruction
Drives, SSDs, phones and tapes shredded with serial numbers on the certificate.
- ContainersBins, consoles and sacks
Which container suits which room, and how many a floor needs.
Regular collection or one-off purge?
Recurring contracts are the right answer for most offices. A one-off clearance suits a backlog, a move or a site that rarely produces confidential paper.
| Regular collection | One-off purge | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Paper created every week: client files, payroll, patient letters | Archive past its retention date, office moves, closures |
| Containers | Locked consoles and bins left on site | Sealed sacks or bins brought for the day |
| How often | Weekly, every two weeks or every four weeks | Once |
| Typical price | £45 to £65 a visit | £20 to £40 a sack |
| Certificate | After every collection | One for the job |
| Read more | Regular collection | One-off shredding |
The rules, in short
What a solicitor, accountant, school or practice manager is expected to do with paper and drives that hold personal data.
- UK GDPR
- Personal data must be kept secure, including when it is destroyed (Article 32), and kept no longer than needed (Article 5). A shredding firm handles personal data for you, so you need a written contract with processor terms (Article 28).
- ICO expectations
- Locked waste bins for records with personal data, cross-cut shredding or incineration, contracts that cover disposal, assurance such as destruction certificates and audit checks, and a log of what was sent (accountability framework). The ICO also suggests someone checks each certificate matches what was sent (records management toolkit).
- BS EN 15713:2023
- The code of practice for secure destruction, published 30 September 2023. It covers contracts, records from collection to destruction, subcontracting, staff vetting and training, collection and transport, destruction premises and the security level for each kind of material (BSI).
- Waste duty of care
- Shredded paper is still waste. Whoever carries it as a business must be a registered waste carrier (GOV.UK), and you have a duty of care to pass it only to someone authorised (code of practice).
- Drives and devices
- The NCSC says erase first where possible, then destroy to particles of 6 mm or less, and check the result (NCSC guidance).
General guidance read November 2026, not legal advice. Sector rules (SRA, ICAEW, NHS records management, DfE) can add to it.
Security levels: how small is small enough?
BS EN 15713:2023 asks for a security level from 1 to 7 to be chosen for each kind of material, drawing on ISO/IEC 21964 (formerly DIN 66399). For paper the levels run P-1 to P-7. Ask your contractor which level you are getting.
| Level | Shred size | Typically used for |
|---|---|---|
| P-1 | Strips up to 12 mm wide | General internal paper |
| P-2 | Strips up to 6 mm wide | Internal paper of low sensitivity |
| P-3 | Particles up to 320 mm² | Sensitive and personal data, normal protection |
| P-4 | Particles up to 160 mm² | Personal data needing higher protection, such as HR and client files |
| P-5 | Particles up to 30 mm² | Highly confidential and special category data |
| P-6 | Particles up to 10 mm² | Secret material needing exceptional protection |
| P-7 | Particles up to 5 mm² | Top secret and classified material |
Particle sizes from published DIN 66399 summaries. Drives have their own H levels; see hard drive destruction.
What confidential waste disposal costs
Typical ranges from published UK price guides, autumn 2026, and what public bodies actually agreed to pay. A guide, not a quote.
| Service | Typical price |
|---|---|
| Scheduled collection, one or two consoles or bins | £45 to £65 |
| One-off sack, collected and shredded off site | £20 to £40 |
| Minimum charge, ad hoc collection | from £50 |
| On-site shredding vehicle, per hour | about £125 |
| Hard drive shredded on site, in batches of 250 to 1,000 | £2 to £2.60 |
| Buyer | Term | Value | A year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office for Students | 4 years | £2,500 | £625 |
| NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit | 5 years | £10,153 | £2,031 |
| Food Standards Agency | 5 years | £64,960 | £12,992 |
| Derby City Council | 5 years | £75,000 | £15,000 |
| North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust | 3 years | £84,000 | £28,000 |
Across the UK
Contractors run scheduled routes nationwide. These cities have their own pages because local rules change how collections run.
Questions about confidential waste disposal
What counts as confidential waste?
Anything that identifies a person or would harm your organisation if found: client and patient records, payroll and HR files, bank statements, contracts, exam scripts, CVs, letters with names and addresses, and the drives, phones and USB sticks that hold the same information digitally.
How should a business dispose of confidential waste?
Keep it in locked containers, have it collected and destroyed by a contractor under a written contract, and keep the certificates. The ICO expects locked bins, cross-cut shredding or incineration, a contract that covers disposal and assurance such as destruction certificates (ICO accountability framework).
Is it a legal requirement to shred confidential waste?
UK GDPR requires appropriate security for personal data, including when it is destroyed (Article 32). It does not say "shred", but in practice secure destruction with records is how organisations meet it. In December 2019 the ICO fined a London pharmacy after unlocked crates of patient documents were found; the penalty, reduced to £92,000 on appeal, was upheld by the Court of Appeal (ICO).
How much does confidential waste disposal cost?
Published guide prices start at about £45 a scheduled collection for one or two containers, and one-off sacks typically cost £20 to £40 each. On-site shredding averages about £125 an hour. See the cost estimator.
What is BS EN 15713?
The code of practice for secure destruction of confidential and sensitive material. The current edition, BS EN 15713:2023, was published on 30 September 2023 and covers on-site and off-site destruction: contracts, collection and transport, staff vetting, destruction premises, security levels and records. It does not cover data erasure.
Do I get a certificate of destruction?
You should, after every collection or job. It is your evidence that the material was destroyed. Check that it matches what was collected. See what a certificate should show.
Ask for confidential waste prices
Three short steps: your postcode, what needs destroying, and how to reach you. About two minutes.
A free matching service, not a confidential waste contractor. We find one that covers your postcode and tell you who it is first. Your details go nowhere until you agree.
Thanks, your enquiry is in.
- Within one working day we will email or call to tell you which confidential waste contractor covers your postcode.
- Your details reach that firm only if you say yes.
- They confirm containers, collection dates and a written price. No marketing from us, ever.