The Jericho Public Library recently addressed the issue of rapidly growing piles of documents, papers and forms by inviting their patrons to come on down to dispose of sensitive documents in permanent and environmentally conscious way. This was accomplished by means of a huge industrial shredding vehicle parked in the library’s lot, according to Phyllis Cox, public relations and program coordinator for the library.
“I thought this would be a great idea. Our residents love this kind of stuff and we’ve been getting a lot of steady business today,” she said. “People hold their paper for ages and this is perfect, since you can just bring it here and destroy it all in one shot. This is the first time we’re doing this and I think it’s going to at least become a twice a year event.”
Steve Innerfield, co-owner of Quality Shredding of Deer Park, was manning his giant, truck-based shredding and compacting stationed in the library’s parking lot. He noted that proper destruction of sensitive material is of paramount importance these days.
“There’s such an identity theft problem going on these days. It’s in the news every day and is a very real, legitimate threat,” he said. “There’s a case of identity theft roughly every two seconds and the senior population is in particular has been terrorized by that. Most of these people have no real way to deal with it, so stuff just piles up in their homes.”
Steve’s wife Tobi, president of Quality Shredding, noted that her company is celebrating its five-year anniversary. They service large corporations and well as schools and other professional organizations, shredding paper, disposing of computer hardware (including actually shredding hard drives) and much more.
“My husband and I started a paper shredding company because we care about the environment. Plus, I have an engineering background and I love big machinery,” she said. “We started this out of the back bedroom of our house. We bought our first truck then and rented a small yard to store it in, and later we expanded to a plant, bought out the assets of another shredding company, added three other trucks.”
But while serving professional interests during the week, weekends Tobi noted that weekends are reserved for more community-based endeavors, like the event at the library. They also give jobs to military veterans whenever possible.
“On weekends we do many events such as this, where we go to local neighborhood libraries and offer our services at a greatly reduced rate,” she said. “My husband Steve and I are both involved in the Boy Scouts, and we give hiring preferences to Eagle Scouts, Girl Scout Gold, and U.S. military.”
Throughout the afternoon, local residents pulled up with boxes and boxes of paper and were greeted by Steve and Tobi, who loaded it all into a wheeled container. Once the container was full, it was deposited into an extended alcove on the side of the truck. There, a mechanical clamp grasps the container, hoists it and dumps its contents into the shredding mechanism, providing a final end for old tax bills, car insurance forms, credit card receipts, and anything else you wouldn’t want falling into dishonest hands.
Fred Dobler, a Jericho resident, parked in the library lot with his SUV filled with several loads of papers. He noted that they had been accumulating for quite some time and decided that today was the right time to finally do something about the clutter they were generating.
“I had boxes and boxes at home and they’ve just been sitting there in the garage for years,” he said. “So, when my wife told me about this, I thought it was a great idea and came right down.”
All that material doesn’t just end up in a landfill. Tobi said that everything they destroy is, in turn, made new again through the wonder of recycling.
“At our plant, we have a bailer. Our truck offloads the shredded paper onto a conveyer, which drops it into the bailer,” she said. “Each bail of paper comes out much like a bail of hay and they weigh 1,250 pounds. From there, we load up to 30 bails onto trucks from paper mills where they are taken to be recycled into products such as toilet paper and paper towels. So, we’re doing two important jobs: destroying sensitive documents for people and helping the environment as well.”
To find out more about Quality Shredding, visit www.qualityshredding.com.
