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| RECYCLING BINS YIELD BANKS’ PRIVATE INFORMATION |
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| On July 16, 1995, The Hartford Courant of Hartford, CT, printed the results of its investigation into the availability of confidential information in the dumpsters and recycling bins of many of the local banks. The investigation began after a reporter found bags of bank documents next to a used-clothing bin at a local shopping center. The resulting investigation of seven area banks found that all of them routinely disposed of records into unsecured dumpsters and recycling bins.
The reporter contacted many of the victimized bank customers who were understandably outraged by the negligence. One customer complained that she had been contemplating buying a shredder for her home to protect this same information. "This jeopardizes my doing business with them," she said. The investigation prompted the state’s Consumer Protection Commissioner and Banking Commissioner to send a letter to the banks and their state trade association "to alert them to this problem and to allow them the opportunity to take voluntary action to eliminate it." A picture being worth a thousand words, the article also featured a photograph of recycling containers behind a bank that were brimming with paper still intact. |