The Attorney General has made it his personal quest to stop Texas Businesses from throwing personal information into the trash and exposing Texans to identity theft. It might be time to make sure his fellow government agencies are also diligent.

A woman in Harlingen Texas was looking for empty boxes when she found personal documents left behind by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services. The papers contained name, addresses and social security numbers. See the video.

The must not be aware that there are many Texas shredding services.

Apparently a business putting documents in the trash is a good story for local media because it sure gets plenty of attention. Here is a story from Weslaco, Texas about a company putting personal information in the trash [see the video] . And how much information does it take? In this case only 1oo names.

If you are a business owner you need to be extremely vigilant with the information your customers have entrusted to you. Just a few pieces of paper in the trash can land you on the evening news in an unfavorable light. I think the easiest way to do this is to make shredding easy and convenient for everyone in the office. There is now easier way than several locked bins around the office where the paper can be stored. You will also need a person with the assigned job of shredding and a manager to watch and document the process. If you don't have two employees with too much time on their hands you should investigate a paper shredding service.