Help Center

Yes.

We offer secure destruction and recycling for the millions of Australians now working from home. As such, we will maintain our service unless it becomes unsafe to operate. We continue to provide full services and at this stage, it looks like we will be able to continue throughout the pandemic.

We are the perfect service for social distancing and working from home.

You can order online from your home. You do not need to leave the house.

We deliver to your letterbox via Australia Post. 

Please note that our service delivery may take longer than usual due to delays with the post at the moment.

Fill up your bag at home as usual. Lodge it in person in a post office or give it to a trusted third party to lodge in a post office for you. Keep your lodgement receipt. We provide full tracking and a Destruction Certificate.

If you cannot or do not wish to lodge in a post office, you can store your bag at home and lodge it at a later date. 

Alternatively, you can lodge in a red post box if you need immediate disposal. Please write down your 23-digit tracking ID number on the label on your bag prior to lodgement. You can use that tracking number to get your Destruction Certificate. 

Red post box lodgement is not our preferred method because you will not receive a lodgement receipt and we can only track part of your bag's journey. However, we have tested this type of lodgement and we are confident your bag will arrive for secure destruction as usual. But we cannot guarantee this method. Please understand that if you choose to lodge this way, our options for investigation will be limited because you will not have a lodgement receipt. 

Yes.

We continue to shred and recycle all paper lodged in Send and Shred bags during the pandemic.

We have made one WHS modification for the safety of staff. We are delaying recycling of our plastic bags due to COVID. We are temporarily storing these on site and will send them off for recycling as soon as we are able do so.

Yes.

We have taken every step we can to ensure that our service is safe for you and your family. We believe Send and Shred remains a high-quality, low-risk service that meets an essential need for homes and offices.

Our fulfillment staff wear gloves and practise good hygiene while packing orders. They do not work if they have COVID-19 symptoms.

Australia Post deliver our orders. They also practice good hygiene and are directed not to work if they have COVID-19 symptoms.

The government advises that it is not certain how long COVID-19 survives on surfaces. Early evidence suggests that it behaves like other coronaviruses. Studies suggest that coronaviruses may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days and that it persists for longer on plastic than it does on paper. 

The plastic Send and Shred bags are last handled in our fulfillment centre. You can check your email notification to see how long ago that was. 

The delivery envelope is last handled by the Australia Post delivery person.   

Some of our more vulnerable customers open envelopes with gloves, immediately dispose of the envelope inside the bag and wipe down the outside of the bag with detergent or soapy water. Some leave their order in quarantine on their property for a few days before handling it. Some have it delivered to a parcel locker and collect it later. 

We encourage you to use any reasonable measure that gives you peace of mind. We will also discontinue our service if we ever believe that it is unsafe in any way. 

We provide free shipping Australia-wide. To keep costs down for you, we deliver products via Australia Post's regular untracked mail service to your letterbox. We dispatch orders within 1 business day. Delivery takes 1-6 business days.

The total time from lodging your order to receiving your bags is usually 1 - 6 business days, depending on where you are. We ship orders from Canberra. Please contact us if you have a question about your order or if you need a different delivery arrangement. 

Send and Shred is a secure shredding service for your paperwork. 

Order a Send and Shred bag online. We deliver to your letterbox, at home or at work.

Fill your bag with sensitive paperwork.Each bag fits up to 1000 A4 pages / 5 kilograms. Seal when full.

Lodge your bag in any post office, anywhere in Australia. Post office staff will hand you a receipt with your tracking number on it. Don't worry, you don't have to pay anything! Our service is fully prepaid.

You bag is securely delivered to our Locked Box. We then collect it and securely shred and recycle it. You can track it on our website and download a destruction certificate for your records.

If you've ever used a home shredder, or if you've ever thought that you should, this service is right for you.

Find out more by watching How does Send and Shred work?

1 in 4 Australians fall victim to identity theft. It's not safe to throw personal paperwork in the bin. Anything with your name, address, birth date or financial details could be used by identity thieves. That's why police recommend shredding.

BUT paper shredders jam, break and are fiddly to use. They also send waste to landfill. Council facilities can't process shredded paper, so if you shred it at home and put it in your recycling bin, it ends up at the tip. So does the shredder itself. Around 1.5 million paper shredders become e waste in landfill each year.

That's why we came up with Send and Shred. We do the shredding for you. After we've shredded it, we recycle all the paper. 

We also shred and recycle the bags.We donate 50c from each bag to the RSPCA. Save the puppies, save the planet and save yourself!

Buy your Send and Shred bag online. We currently stock on our website and Ebay. Other options are coming soon.

We deliver via regular post to your letterbox, anywhere in Australia. Shipping is free. You do not need to be at home to receive your delivery.

The purchase price includes all costs for shipping, post office lodgement, tracking, shredding, recycling and your destruction certificate. We have no hidden extras. 

You can put any kind of paperwork in your Send and Shred bag. You can leave staples, paperclips and light bindings on paperwork, our shredding process will sort it out. Please remove bulldog clips and heavy binders.

Once you've filled your bag, seal it and take it to any post office, anywhere in Australia.

Post office staff will scan your bag and give you a receipt. You do not need to pay because our service is fully prepaid, but keep your receipt.

On your receipt is a 23-digit 'article number' (eg. 33BPX000028201000650800). This is your tracking number. Enter this tracking number onto Track on our website. You can track your bag and download a Destruction Certificate. You can also enter your email address and have your destruction certificate emailed to you. 

Destruction Certificates are available 48 hours after the final tracking event which is 'Collected for Destruction'.

It's okay to ask a trusted friend or employee to lodge your bag for you, but make sure they give you the receipt. We cannot provide any tracking assistance unless we know your tracking number.

Please track your bag within 60 days of lodgement. After this, you may no longer be able to access tracking.

Your tracking number is the 23-digit AP 'Article ID' on your bag. Don't worry, you don't need to remember this number! When you lodge your bag in a post office, post office staff will scan your bag and give you a receipt. You do not need to pay because our service is fully prepaid, but keep your receipt.

On your receipt is a 23-digit 'article number' (eg. 33BPX000028201000650800). This is your tracking number. Enter this tracking number onto Track on our website. You can track your bag right through its journey to its final destination, 'Collected for Destruction'. 

Within 48 hours, your bag and its contents will be shredded and destroyed. We'll upload a Destruction Certificate at the bottom of your tracking. Click on this to download it. You can save it electronically or print it for your records.

Use it!

Our experience shows most people buy a paper shredder but then don't use it, because home shredders jam, break and make a mess. But if you really want to use a shredder not a service, make sure you follow through. Try setting aside a regular slot each week to shred your documents. Remember that most shredders need to cool down after operating for a few minutes, so factor this in. A shredder that you buy and leave in the box won't protect you.

Check your Security Level. Choice magazine says shredders must meet Security Level Three to properly destroy information. This means that strips must be no more than 2mm wide and cross-cut or diamond peices must be less than 320mm squared. Many of the cheaper models only offer Level One or Two security.

Remember that paper from home shredders is hard to recycle. If you put loose shredded paper in your recycling bin at home, it will end up in landfill. So will the shredder itself, once it breaks. 

Yes.

We donate 50c from each Send and Shred bag to the RSPCA.

What do the puppies think of us? Watch our puppy review and find out (lucky that our recycling skills are better than our video skills!)

Yes.

We offer a 30 day money-back guarantee. You can return unused products for any reason within 30 days of payment. We will refund the purchase price minus our shipping and handling costs. 

We also provide replacements and refunds in other situations, such as where our product or service fails to meet a Consumer Guarantee under the Australian Consumer Law. We provide these refunds within 3 months of making payment.

Please contact us if you would like to arrange a refund.

We'd love to hear from you!

Please contact us. If we don't answer straight away, leave a message. We will respond as soon as possible.

You can track your bag and download a destruction certificate on the 'Track' section of our website. This is available for 60 days after you lodge your bag.

If you enter your phone number or email address, we will also send these notices to you.

Track numbers are connected to each individual l bag, not to your customer name. Please keep your post office receipt for each bag that you want to track.

Track numbers are only publicly available for 60 days after lodgment. After this, the article ID will not register. This is because Australia Post has removed the number from their system and ours. It may still be trackable at that stage. Please contact us directly for assistance if you wish to track after this time. 

Yes. 

From the moment you lodge your bag in a post office, it is protected by our secure chain of custody. Post office staff check that your bag is sealed and place it in their secure storage area. Australia Post transport your bag through their secure chain, just like they do for Registered Post.

Our expert shredder, Shred-X, collect it from our Locked Box and shred it in their high-security facility. Shred-X hold the highest industry certification from the National Association for Information Destruction Australia. All their staff are police-vetted. Their facility is locked, alarmed and has 24/7 CCTV monitoring. Shred-X are fully accredited and they meet government, business and intelligence service criteria. Our patented service brings the protection of 'big business' shredding right into your home.

Throughout this process, you can track your bag. You can see where it is and you know when it's been destroyed. You can download a destruction certificate for you records.

Around 1 in 4 Australians fall victim to identity theft. Consumer fraud costs our community billions each year.

Fraud and identity theft can devastate the victim. You might lose money and reputation. You might be refused credit. You might lose trust in other people. One in ten victims need counselling. One in twenty are wrongly accused of a crime. Some victims move house and change their name to make a fresh start. It's a stressful experience.

Identity thieves can hack your computer, use phishing emails, get details from social media and steal paperwork from bins, letterboxes, houses and cars. They piece together a profile from multiple sources. A single detail, like your full name or address, is just the start.

Police recommend shredding all personal paperwork or using a secure service, like Send and Shred.

See also Consumer Fraud in Australia and Identity Crime and Misuse in Australia (Australian Institute of Criminology).

If you think you have been the victim of fraud or identity theft, report it to your local police and contact any institutions affected, like your bank.

These agencies can also help.

• Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network
• Victim support service iDcare
• ScamWatch

Identity thieves can misuse any personal information, such as your name, address, date and place of birth, bank account details, Tax File Number and employment details. 

They don't need to obtain a full profile all at once. One or two stolen details may be added to other sources of information. They may not even use it themselves. Criminals sell information on the Dark Net.

If you run a business, you need to protect staff and client information as well as your own. Otherwise you risk your reputation, goodwill, clients and livelihood. You might also get hit with a Notifiable Data Breach fine. Find out more below.

Yes.

We take security very seriously. We conduct regular security audits and update our security procedures and technology.

We only collect the personal information we need to do our jobs. We store this information securely on our server, which is protected by restricted access procedures, a firewall and other cyber security measures. You can find out more in our Privacy Policy.

We do not collect any credit card information. When you buy our products online, you enter your credit card details directly into our secure gateway, which is a Payment Card Industry DSS Compliant company meeting Security Level One.

Yes. 

We recycle all paper in bags. We've partnered with secure shredding experts, Shred-X, to ensure this is done correctly. 

Shred-X shred, blend and bale the paper. They then send it to an Australian pulp mill, where it is recycled back into paper products, like Reflex office white paper or toilet paper. 

Thanks to conscientious customers like you, we have a clean, separated recycling stream with very low contamination. We use local Australian recyclers. This means we are unaffected by China's waste ban. We will continue to recycle our products to the highest standards.

We also recycle the plastic bags. Due to changes arising from COVID, we are temporarily storing bags on site. We will resume sending them to Albury recyclers, Plastic Forests Pty Ltd, as soon as possible. Plastic Forests turn the shredded poly back into new plastic products, like pellets or garden edging. 

Find out more by watching our Recycling Week tour of Send and Shred.

There are 806 resource recovery facilities in Australia. Your household recycling ends up at one them. Each has different procedures, which is why we recommend you check with your local council about what to put in your household bin. But most (if not all) reject shredded paper.

Household recycling facilities are set up to process standard household waste, like food packaging, letters and junk mail. We conducted extensive research and we didn't find any that accepted loose shredded paper.

The Materials Recovery Facilities call shredded paper 'dreaded paper'. The staff can't sort it out on the line. The machinery can't process it. Finely shredded confetti paper blows around and clogs up machinery and lungs. Larger pieces of shredded paper get tangled up in equipment. All of it ends up in landfill. Sometimes, they have to stop the line to sort out the contamination, which means good quality recyclable material might also end up in landfill as a result of shredded paper. Don't put shredded paper into your household recycling bin.

Some people use shredded paper in their compost, but others worry about the bleach and ink contaminating their garden. Some people use it for animal litter, but the RSPCA no longer use it in their shelters. Shredded paper is hard to recycle.

Ask your local council what can go into your yellow-topped recycling bin or try Planet Ark's 'Recycling Near Me'.

Yes. Around 1.5 million shredders end up as e waste in Australian landfills each year.

Paper shredders aren't good products. They jam, make a mess and they're fiddly to use. They also break. Unlike televisions and computers, there are no national recycling schemes for shredders. This means they usually end up in landfill. 

Australia Post's Australian Lifestyle Survey conducted research for us in June 2017. That survey shows 47% of households own a paper shredder. With 9.24 million households in Australia, that makes 4.34 million shredders. Making the generous assumption that each shredder lasts for three years (which is far beyond most warranties), that makes 1.45 million broken shredders each year. And that's not counting any from the 2.1 million small businesses in Australia. 

Before you buy another shredder, think about where it will end up. Why not use an environmentally friendly service instead?

If you use a printer or write notes at work, you need a shredding solution. 

If your business handles any personal information on paper, you need to shred it when you're finished with it.

Have you got a system in place for these?

• Staff and client name, address, phone number, date of birth.
• Staff and client health history and medical records.
• Staff or client financial information.
• Handwritten forms completed by client at their first appointment.
• Handwritten notes about a client, a project or other work matters.
• Letters with your business name and address on them.
• Forms, contracts and legal documents.
• Business bank statements and tax records.
• Personnel records.
• Pay slips.

In 2019, the average data breach cost an Australian business $2.13 million.

As well as the financial cost, your business might lose reputation, goodwill and customers. You might leak valuable information to the competition. You might also breach the Privacy Act and Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme.

Despite this, many business don't take the care they should. Hospital records are regularly found dumped in unlocked bins. NAID's last security audit found that 11% of commercial rubbish bins in Sydney contained personal confidential information.

A minimum wage staff member using a shredder for one hour each week costs your business over $1000 in annual staff time. That doesn't count the cost of buying or maintaining the shredder itself.

Financial, commercial and payroll paperwork is sensitive. Many businesses don't let their junior staff see it. If you need a senior staff member to do the shredding, it will cost you even more.

The Privacy Act 1988 applies to all businesses with annual turnover more than $3 million and to some other businesses will lower turnover. Penalties are up to $1.7 million for companies.

Australian Privacy Principle 11 requires business covered by the Act to take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information when they no longer need it. Throwing paperwork into an unlocked bin is not good enough. It must be shredded first.

In February 2018, the new Notifiable Data Breach scheme required businesses to report a data breach to customers and do the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Are you breaking the law?

Yes.

Most people know their health and medical information is highly sensitive. People worry about their MyHealth record and other data.

This is why the Privacy Act has special provisions for health service providers. These apply to doctors, hospitals, pharmacists, complementary therapists, naturopaths, chiropractors, masseuses, gyms, child care centres, private schools and many more.

If you are a health service provider, make sure you protect data. Shred paperwork when you're finished with it.

Unfortunately, many health businesses aren't doing the right thing. A recent Sydney audit found a quarter of commercial rubbish bins at doctors' offices contained personal medical information.

The world is going digital, but we're not there yet. The average Australian office worker bins around 10,000 sheets of A4 paper each year.

A 2016 survey found that 74% of Australians prefer reading print on paper rather than on screen. 

According to the ABS, around one million Australians have never accessed the internet. Two in five say they need paper records because they don't have a reliable internet connection.

Here at Send and Shred, we love ecommerce! We're in it, after all. But if your company goes digital, make sure you don't leave your customers behind.

Yes. 

The Australian Information Commissioner's 2017 survey found that six in ten customers would avoid dealing with a company due to privacy concerns. 

Even if you're exempt from the Privacy Act, you should still protect your customer's data. Good privacy is good business.

Use it!

Our experience shows most businesses who have a shredder aren't using it properly. If your business has a shredder AND you can afford the staff time and cost to use it, make sure you follow through.

• Keep your shredder in safe working order.
• Make sure it meets Security Level Three or higher, which means it shreds paper into strips no more than 2mm wide or cross-cut pieces less than 320mm squared.
• Train your staff and give them enough time to use the shredder.
• Do not ask staff to shred documents you wouldn't otherwise show them. Think hard before giving out confidential client information, HR paperwork or payroll information.
• If staff take paperwork offsite, make sure they bring it back for shredding. Do they work from home? Do they print emails in the evening? Do they write notes at client sites? All of that material must be shredded. Many of our business customers find it easier to send staff home with a Send and Shred bag, but you can also ask them to cart paper back into the office.
• Ask your contractors what they do with their paperwork. If they don't have a good answer, don't hire them.

These are our standard terms and conditions.

Unfortunately we let the lawyers write them, so they're pretty long! Feel free to contact us with any questions.

We take privacy very seriously. 

We only collect and use the information we need to do our jobs. We do not collect or store any credit card information. 

For full details, read our Privacy Policy. It was written by a lawyer. In the immortal words of Douglas Adams, we apologise for the inconvenience.

Most orders are received within 2-6 business days. 

We dispatch orders in 1-2 business days. Our fulfillment staff are pretty speedy!

We provide free shipping Australia-wide. To minimise costs to you, we deliver via Australia Post. We ship orders from Canberra. Depending on where you live, AusPost will take 1 - 6 business days to deliver it.

Please contact us if you need a special delivery arrangement.

Yes. 

We offer a 30 day money-back guarantee. You can get a refund for any reason within 30 days of payment. We will refund the purchase price to you, minus our shipping and handling costs. 

We provide replacements and refunds in some other situations, such as where our product or service fails to meet a Consumer Guarantee under the Australian Consumer Law. If this is the case, please contact us within 3 months of making payment.

Please contact us if you would like to arrange a refund.