What's Considered Confidential?

Confidential materials are records that contain confidential information elements such as social security numbers, home addresses, and other personal privacy information.

If a university record contains confidential information, its removal from an office and destruction must receive special care. OAR 166-30-060(2) stipulates that "Records which are confidential by law . . . must be destroyed by shredding, pulping, or incineration."

How to Dispose of Your Confidential Records

shredded paper

In order to make the destruction of confidential records both convenient and reliable, the Oregon State University Campus Recycling Program provides services to destroy paper records or microforms, which contain information that may be confidential.

Current fee: $0.50 per pound

Confidential materials can be collected in one of two ways: packed into boxes or placed in a cart that remains in your office.

Using Boxes (One-Time Collection):

Pack into a photocopy paper box with a fitted lid or a records storage/pulping box, which can be supplied from Campus Recycling free of charge. Because the boxes will be reused, please apply no or little tape to them. Please do not use oversized boxes or allow the boxes to overflow.

Each box should be labeled with the following information:

  • "TO BE SHREDDED"
  • Office name
  • Name and telephone number of a contact person
  • Index to be charged

Request boxes or a pickup using our Online Service Request Form.

Using Roll Carts (For Continuous Collection):confidential cart

For offices that continuously generate confidential material, Campus Recycling also has locking 30 gallon roll carts available to place in department offices. These are not serviced on a routine schedule like regular recycling; rather they are serviced when we are notified that they are full. Use the Online Service Request Form to request a bin or pickup.

For More Information:

Please contact us with any questions about the OSU confidential records destruction program.