The numbers are in! Thank you for supporting the R4 Services Green Initiative. By securely destroying your documents with R4 Services, you have the peace of mind that we recycle your material in order to help save our environment. Together, we can and have made a difference. So far this year, you have helped us recycle 1,067.63 TONS. That's 2,135,260 pounds! Additionally, you have helped save:
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• 18,150 trees
• 7,473,428 gallons of water
• 197,512 gallons of gas
• 64,058 pounds of air pollution
• 3,523 cubic yards of landfill space
• 4,377,293 kilowatt hours of energy

These numbers are based off of information gathered from the US Environmental Protection Agency.
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Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued business and support.

Sincerely,
​The R4 Team

Congratulations to our very own Phillip Rooney, who has been designated as the Grand Marshal of the 25th Annual Rotary Run Charity Classic!

​Read the original article in Hinsdale Living by Sherry Thomas or check out some highlights below:

Phillip Rooney of Hinsdale has every reason to be excited about his designation as Grand Marshal of the 25th Annual Rotary Run Charity Classic (rotaryruncharityclassic.org). The October 6 event builds on 60 years of service and celebration of the more than $2 million that Rotary efforts have provided to worthy charities locally and around the world. He and his family—which includes wife Suzanne, their four children, and 13 grandchildren—are founders of the Rooney Heart Institute at Hinsdale Hospital. Rooney is also a Life Trustee of The Community House, past Chairman of The Economic Club of Chicago, and a Board of Trustee at the University of Notre Dame.

“Our family supports the Rotary Run Classic because it has provided millions of dollars in funding to such local organizations as The Community House, District 181 Foundation, Hinsdale Hospital Foundation, Ray Graham Association Hanson Center, and the Rotary Club of Hinsdale Foundation. These things make our community stronger.”

​A Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, Rooney’s life has been devoted to service, whether it be serving in the Vietnam War (earning both the Bronze Star and the Navy Commendation Medal) or the work he does here in the Hinsdale community he has called home for 36 years. By day, Rooney has been President of Waste Management for 28 years, Vice Chairman of ServiceMaster for six years, and Chairman of Claddagh LCC and several private equity companies for 16 years.

Read more here to see some of this proud veteran, philanthropist, and avid runner’s favorite lasts.

ever before has privacy been such a large-scale issue. With the advent of the internet, new technologies have been rapidly developing -- and so too have the abilities of hackers and thieves. These days it seems like data breaches are constantly in the news, and those are only the widely publicized ones. Millions and millions of records are compromised each year, the vast majority of them without any type of file encryption. All it takes is one ignorant employee to click on the wrong link from the wrong spam email, and suddenly your business adds to the statistics. More and more data breaches happen each year, so taking every precaution to ensure your files are secure is crucial. An estimated 60% of small businesses go out of business within 6 months of a security breach. The last thing you need is to become compromised because Timmy the intern didn't properly shred your banking info or fully destroy an old hard drive.

Our industrial hard drive and paper shredding equipment can handle any amount of data you can throw at it. R4 Services knows how sensitive your information is, which is why we:

• Collect material to be shredded and securely transport it for disposal. A receipt of items received will be issued at the time of collection.
• Confidentially shred the material under the supervision of insured employees.
• Issue a Certificate of Destruction upon completion of the destruction process.
• Work with you to assist in your compliance requirements.

For more information, or to request a shred truck/shred bin, get in touch today!

Today’s technology gives us access to content, documents, photos, videos and work files like never before. We’re able to access information at the push of a button and in the palm of our hands. So how can we better utilize technology and integrate our records management from it? Why is records management so important in the workplace? Here’s how your company or organization can benefit from today’s technology:

1. First, it’s important to note that an effective document management system is not a guaranteed success with the implementation of modern technology. You must work for it. That means researching today’s cutting edge technology, understanding your own business needs, and finding the perfect match. Do you need web-based software? How about scanning capabilities to easily search for your documents?
2. The right technology can help improve your bottom line. There are two key factors that make up a successful records management system: proper training and time. When you get both of these right, your bottom line with improve, resulting in the overall success of your organization. When implementing new technology into your records managements system, it’s important to give your employees the proper training and be patient with the new process. Allow time for each step of the new system to work itself out naturally.

As concerns over the environment have increased over the past few years, businesses and residential communities have started more “going green” recycling campaigns to do their part. Just separate the paper from the plastics from the metals and throw them in a bin on the curb.  We often think recycling paper is the easiest way to save the planet, since it has a 60% recycling rate. However, where regular paper is fairly simple, shredded paper is complex. That’s right, if you take that sheet of looseleaf and tear it into bits, it suddenly becomes a hassle and even non-recyclable in many places. Many recycling services refuse to accept shredded paper, since it’s highly ineffective at being turned into new paper. It can also clog up recycling machinery at sorting plants. Evidently, the only real way to separate shredded paper from everything else is by hand -- arduous, tedious, and in the end, costly.

So this begs the question: how do you actually go about recycling your shredded paper? You presumably don’t want your identity stolen by a dumpster diver and your credit card statements are nobody’s business but your own. Well, the answer is fairly simple, but not completely obvious:

1. Separate the shredded paper into a bag. Many communities will take shredded paper as long as it’s in its own receptacle. Just be sure it’s not a plastic bag -- it’ll end up in a landfill, which defeats the purpose of your green efforts.
2. Check for local shredded paper pickup services. Some places have trucks that will get your shredded nuisance bits, though they may only do it by request.
3. Communities often host periodic free “shredding days” where the community can bring their scraps to machines specifically designed to handle shredded paper.
4. Reduce your amount of shredding. If you just want to cover up one line from your bank statement, use a permanent marker to black it out and recycle the paper like you normally do.

Of course, if you don’t want to have to worry about saving the planet, we’ll do it for you. We offer confidential, secure document destruction and disposal services. We do it for an array of different media types: tapes, disks, cartridges, x-rays, HDDs, monitors, film, and of course, paper. We provide you with options that best suit your needs and we’ll make sure your confidential statements have vanished without a trace. Check out our Destruction Services page and give us a call for more information.