Old bills. Financial documents. Medical records. Legal papers.
After tax season, many people are left flooded with such papers. However, two libraries in the county have a solution.
The Mendham Township Library, at the corner of Cherry Lane and West Main Street, Brookside, NJ will hold "Shredder Day'' in the library parking lot from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 17, to raise money for its facility.
Two weeks later, residents who live in the northern section of the county could visit the Kinnelon Public Library, at 130 Kinnelon Road, Kinnelon, NJ, for a similar event. That library will hold the event from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 1.
The events will give individuals the opportunity to shred old, sensitive documents such as old bills, canceled checks and other documents, helping prevent identity theft.
The libraries will get additional resources from the funds raised.
A large shredder truck, owned by Security Shredding of Morris Plains, will be at both locations. It will cost individuals $5 to shred papers inside each 14-by-18-by-10-inch box and $10 to shred documents in cardboard boxes measuring 14-by-29-by-10-inch box.
Mendham Township Library Director Stephanie Cotton said the event, the library's fifth, helps provide a community service. The event is open to non-residents.
"It's just another way to do spring cleaning,'' Cotton said. "People go through a lot of documents this time of year.''
The money raised will help support Mendham Township Library, which relies on fund-raising events such as Shredder Day to run its programs. Last year, the shredder event raised some $2,000, and Cotton said she hopes for another successful year.
The Kinnelon library's Shredder Day was organized by the Friends of Kinnelon Library. Officials decided to hold the event after a significant turnout last year. Like the one in Mendham, the funds raised will go toward paying for books, programs, and various types of media.
John O'Hagan, owner of Security Shredding, said the truck has a 95-gallon container and could hold some 9,000 pounds of shredded paper. He said some 5,000 pounds of paper can be processed per hour.
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Upon request, customers are given a "Certificate of Destruction'' that makes it official their documents had gone through the machine.
O'Hagan said more and more libraries have embraced shredding because it helps raise money for services and, more importantly, provides some protection against people who commit fraud.
"You can't be too careful with all of the scams out there,'' he said.
The National Association for Information Destruction, Inc., advises that documents should be destroyed on a regular schedule. NAID also states that recycling the documents is not as effective as shredding them.
"If something of a private nature does surface, the selection of this unsecured process could be interpreted as negligent,'' according to NAID. "The choice of recycling as a means of information destruction is undesirable from a risk management perspective.''
State Police also recommend to shred "any discarded paperwork that contains personal identifiers or financial information.''
Documents that should get shredded also include pre-approved credit card and loan applications, according to NAID.
O'Hagan said medical records tend to be the most popular items to shred.
For more information about the events, call the Mendham Township Library at 973-543-4018 or Kinnelon Library at 973-838-1321.
Upon request, customers are given a "Certificate of Destruction'' that makes it official their documents had gone through the machine.
O'Hagan said more and more libraries have embraced shredding because it helps raise money for services and, more importantly, provides some protection against people who commit fraud.
"You can't be too careful with all of the scams out there,'' he said.
The National Association for Information Destruction, Inc., advises that documents should be destroyed on a regular schedule. NAID also states that recycling the documents is not as effective as shredding them.
"If something of a private nature does surface, the selection of this unsecured process could be interpreted as negligent,'' according to NAID. "The choice of recycling as a means of information destruction is undesirable from a risk management perspective.''
State Police also recommend to shred "any discarded paperwork that contains personal identifiers or financial information.''
Documents that should get shredded also include pre-approved credit card and loan applications, according to NAID.
O'Hagan said medical records tend to be the most popular items to shred.
For more information about the events, call the Mendham Township Library at 973-543-4018 or Kinnelon Library at 973-838-1321.
