OCEAN COUNTY – The County’s Residential Document Shredding Program will start its second string of dates on September 17 in Lacey.
The program is sponsored by the Ocean County Board of Commissioners and is free to Ocean County residents only. Commercial documents will not be accepted at the collection sites.
Commissioner Bobbi Jo Crea noted that “you are not limited to which site you attend, so we encourage residents to go to whichever date is most convenient for them.”
She added that while registration is not required, the program is very popular and often sites fill up fast. Residents are limited to five file boxes or 100 pounds of confidential documents per car. The contractor for the program is IDSAutoshred of Toms River.
Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners John P. Kelly said “our residents are aware of the problems that can be caused by identity theft.
“Not only does this program help our residents add a layer of personal security as they get rid of old personal documents, but it also helps the environment by recycling the paper properly,” Kelly added.
For those residents who prefer to shred documents at home, Ocean County is offering drop-off boxes at both County recycling centers for shredded office paper.
The program is for all paper documents and paper forms; paper clips and staples need not be removed.
Unacceptable items include magazines, books, junk mail, hanging file folders, greeting cards, photos, x-rays, CDs, floppy disks, microfilm, shredded paper and garbage. In addition, moldy or wet paper and plastic bags should not be included in the shredding.
The shred units feature an automatic feeding and dumping system that eliminates human contact with private documents. Each shredding event runs from 9 a.m. to noon or until the trucks are full.
Each truck has a capacity to hold five to seven tons of paper and all documents are destroyed confidentially on site.
The dates and locations for this fall’s schedule include:
Sept. 17 – Lacey Township Recycling Center Parking Lot, 820 Municipal Lane
Sept. 24 – Barnegat Township Recycling Center Lot, 5 Lippencott Avenue
Oct. 1 – Ship Bottom Municipal Boat Ramp, West 10th Street and Shore Avenue
Oct. 15 – Brick Township Public Works Lot, 836 Ridge Road
Oct. 22 – Beachwood Municipal Complex Parking Lot, 1600 Pinewald Road
Shredded office paper should not be placed with curbside recyclables, and should instead be brought to the drop-off boxes (near Building 105 at the Ocean County Southern Recycling Center in Stafford Township or Building 68 at the Ocean County Northern Recycling Center in Lakewood) for recycling.
The County’s Recyclable Materials Processing Facility cannot effectively sort shredded paper and therefore needs to be recycled separately in order to produce a viable, marketable commodity.
