Recycle Ann Arbor launching secure document shredding service at Drop-Off Station
Local nonprofit Recycle Ann Arbor has announced it will be launching a secure document-shredding service effective Sept. 1.
The shredding service will cost $4 per grocery bag and $6 per banker's box. A grocery bag typically holds about 16 pounds of paper, putting the price per pound at 25 cents.
Don Koyluoglu of Ann Arbor dumps a box of papers into a bin at a Recycle Ann Arbor free shredding event in 2008.
AnnArbor.com file photo
Factoring in a $3 entry fee, one full bag of documents will cost about 44 cents per pound to shred.
The shredding service will utilize lock boxes for security. When customers arrive at the station, they will need to stop at the gatehouse, pay the appropriate fee, then they will be directed into the barn area and a staff member will accompany them to a lock box location.
Customers will be asked to show their receipts, and then they will be able to place their paperwork into a secure lock box.
Once the lock box is full, it will be transported a short distance to NPR Recycling in Romulus, where the documents will be shredded on site.
A certificate of destruction is available upon request.
Customers also can bring a wide range of other types of waste to the Drop-Off Station site, where Recycle Ann Arbor works to limit the amount of material sent to landfills. According to Recycle Ann Arbor, about 50 percent of all material brought to the station is sent for recycling.
The station recycles automotive fluids, mattresses, paper, cardboard, tires, metals, yard waste, concrete, electronics, plastics, glass and other smaller materials, including ink cartridges.
Recycle Ann Arbor encourages customers bringing documents for shredding to maximize their visit by bringing other materials for recycling.
The Drop-Off Station also provides a hard-drive shredding service.
Recycle Ann Arbor's facility at 7891 Jackson Road still conducts live shredding events every second Saturday of the month from April through November and does not charge the $3 entry fee. Customers wishing to see their documents destroyed on the spot can attend those events.
The same prices of $6 per banker box and $4 per grocery bag apply.
The Drop-Off Station is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.
Comments
Connecting Dots
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 8:37 p.m.
Business supply stores usually shred my 'stuff' for .99 per lb. It's close, it's handy and I can watch them shred my documents.
Hugh Giariola
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 1:41 p.m.
The only way I would use that service is if my documents were destroyed on the spot. This drop off service seems quite less secure than a "Shred-It" company or other service provider. I agree with Nicholas Urfe's assessment in the second comment.
A2comments
Wed, Aug 28, 2013 : 7:35 p.m.
His assessment of their ketchup handling ability?
DSClum
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 1:13 p.m.
There is also a great company just east of Ann Arbor Recyclers where you rarely wait in line, cost is minimum $25 up to 100 lbs. Anything over 100 lbs is .25 cents per lb., they also can destroy hard drives, CDs... Offsite LLC at 3530 E. Ellsworth...
A2comments
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 10:57 a.m.
Local office supply stores sometimes have coupons for discounts or x pounds free. Or buy a shredder.
John of Saline
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 4:59 a.m.
If they don't shred it immediately, how do I know it was done at all?
barefootdave
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 3:53 p.m.
"yea, well take care of it later" is not what I'm looking for in secure document shredding
Tony Livingston
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 2:32 a.m.
The Recycle center is a great facility but poorly run. You have to wait at the gate for everything and it can easily take 10 minutes to get up there if you are behind people dumping. Why do people have to wait for 10 minutes to have a card punched in order to go in for recycling? Because the management doesn't want to change things to be more efficient and user friendly. It could be so much more and it could serve so many more people with a little ingenuity.
GetRealA2
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 1:04 a.m.
Give me your SSN's, your credit card numbers, your best-kept bank account secrets yearning to be scammed; The wretched evildoers . . .
Ann English
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 12:09 a.m.
Recycle "electronics"? I know they recycle rechargeable batteries (recharged as often as possible), but I don't remember anything about recycling small electronic devices, such as CD players and radios, there.
Eduard Copely
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 9:04 p.m.
Brought to you in part by the N.S.A. When you need security, we're the ones to trust.
Ryan J. Stanton
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:57 p.m.
I mentioned in that in the story, but it's just once a month.
Ryan J. Stanton
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:58 p.m.
Oops. This was meant as a reply to Linda above.
Ryan J. Stanton
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:53 p.m.
I asked Christine Chessler-Stull, Recycle Ann Arbor's outreach and zero waste coordinator, about what drove the launch of this service and the demand for it. "Basically we were getting lots of phone calls at the Recycle Ann Arbor main office and also at the Drop-Off Station, inquiring about where to locally shred secure documents," she said. "Additionally, customers on site were asking if such a service existed, especially once they saw we had hard drive shredding available." Although the Jackson Road facility (Calvert's) does hold monthly live shredding events (April-November), she said it seemed customers wanted a more flexible schedule and the Drop-Off Station is open three days a week to provide that service.
Nerak
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:41 p.m.
Hmmm. That's too expensive. I'll wait for a free shredding event.
arborani
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 12:31 a.m.
Pretty snarky riposte, Ryan.
Ryan J. Stanton
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:56 p.m.
You must have a lot of important documents to shred! Are you running a business that generates a lot of paperwork or something? FYI - according to Recycle Ann Arbor, a similar service at a local office supply retailer is 79 cents per pound.
Nicholas Urfe
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:35 p.m.
I helped a friend drop some stuff off there a couple years ago. As we unloaded, one of the workers was holding a restaurant ketchup "packet", marveling at how much pressure it could take as he bent it in half. He seemed really impressed with it, and kept showing it to my friend. Sure enough, he popped it in my friend's face, getting it all over his shirt. No reason. He was just an idiot. It was an assault, but who wants to be in the police blotter for "assaulted with ketchup packet"? My friend spoke with the manager, and the manager said that "volunteer" would no longer be working at the facility. So in my experience I would not trust them to handle a ketchup packet, much less the secure disposal of confidential personal information.
Linda Peck
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:24 p.m.
This is a good service. You can also do this at the Calvert's recycling on Jackson Road, for us folk on the North and West sides.
Ryan J. Stanton
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:58 p.m.
I mentioned that in the story, but it's just once a month.
lynel
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:39 p.m.
Calvert's is operated by Recycle Ann Arbor at 7891 Jackson Rd.