[Michlib-l] results of shredding query

[Paula Drummond]

Hi everyone, here’s a compilation of the information we received from our recent query about hosting a shredding event; thanks to everyone who responded, we appreciate it!  We will be hosting an event in April, wish us luck!


Salem-South Lyon/Donna Olsen:
We have used American Data Security. They are out of Oak Park. There are less expensive shredders but ADS has all of the right certifications.

The last time we held a shred day, we partnered with the city who paid half. Be sure to get the largest truck available. We filled the truck Year 1 & 2. Then we went to ADS Year 3 & 4.

Here is out description taken from Evanced:

Community Document Shredding Event
8/12/2017

(9:45 AM) 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Salem-South Lyon District Library

Protect your identity and the environment! Back by popular demand, we will once again be hosting a community shredding event in conjunction with the City of South Lyon. We have partnered with American Data Security, Inc. to provide secure, environmentally-friendly disposal of your private documents. Limit of 4 boxes per vehicle per day.


Allen Park/Sandi Blakney
We just hosted a community shred day, but it was sponsored by City Hall and did not cost the library anything.

The event was scheduled for 9 AM - 1 PM, and while there were few lines, there were few lags, either.

We did not limit the event to Allen Park residents.

Each participant could bring up to five (5) copy paper boxes full.

The truck was not full at the end of our event.

Sorry - I'm not sure I was much help.  If you like, I can try to get less vague answers from our City Administrator (he supervised  the entire event).

Belleville/Amy Greschaw
Belleville ran a shredding event at the beginning of the summer this year; we went with Iron Mountain.

We did not charge anyone, and we didn't limit the event to Belleville residents.

I believe our event was 3 hours long as well. Iron Mountain took care of everything during the event - helping folks load items into the bin, running the equipment, etc. It really went very smoothly on the day of!

I know we did not come close to reaching the truck's capacity. They were supposed to send me a certificate after the event stating how many pounds of papers were shredded, but it didn't materialize. (A bummer - we wanted to use the numbers in our statistics!) We did have a good turnout, though, and a pretty steady stream of folks bringing by their shredding.

My advice would be: be explicit in all your promotional materials about what can and cannot be shredded. Be sure to specify that staples/paperclips/etc are fine to shred, as well as manila folders and the like (assuming that's the case with your company!) Make sure staff knows the details of how the event will work, because folks will definitely ask. You may want to have the confidentiality/privacy guarantee from your company printed out and ready to distribute.

If you have any more questions, I'm happy to answer. Good luck!

Westland/Alexis Tharp
We have a community shred every year as part of Money Smart Week. We're discussing the possibility of doing it twice a year, because we always get a great response. I don't coordinate it, but here's what I know. We do the shredding free of charge and do not limit it to library patrons. We impose a limit of 5 bags or boxes of paper documents per person. I'm not sure about the capacity of our truck, but your shredding company might have recommendations on how much to allow per person. I'd get you in touch with the person coordinating, but I believe it'll be someone new this year. I'll check with them and see if they have anything to add, though. Good luck!

Saline/Jess Hesselgrave
I have helped organize a few shredding events in the past at my previous library, and have one scheduled here at Saline for May.

We provided the shredding for free, and we did not ask for donations.  For the last shredding event I did we did work with the city and they split the cost with us.  I know some libraries do ask for donations, and they just have an employee collect the money if people donate.

We did not limit it to our patrons, but we did limit it to residents only - no businesses.  The first year I helped with it we did not have limits and several local churches and businesses showed up with vans FILLED with boxes, and the truck filled up rather quickly.  There were a lot of upset residents who had small amounts of documents and couldn't utilize the service.

There was a limit to four banker/copy paper sized boxes (or four paper grocery bags) per trip for each person.  If they wanted to bring more, they had to get back into line and wait.  We put that limit on all of our publicity, and we didn't have issues with people overstepping. There was a long line throughout the event and only a few made multiple trips. If you want to open this service up to businesses as well as residents, the box/bag limit is a way to do that and still give them the opportunity to shred items.  They just have to follow the rules the same as everyone else!

We had a four hour long event, and one of the years (the year the businesses showing up and we didn't set limits) it was filled within two hours.  The other years it took the whole time or close to the whole time to fill the truck.  We also put on our publicity that the event would last four hours OR until the truck filled.  It really helped once we limited to four boxes/bags and residents only.  Since you are in a much larger community and your truck holds 300 copy sized boxes, you may want to limit it to 2-3 boxes/bags a person so more people can come through.

To help with traffic flow, we had people pull their vehicles up to the truck and library employees helped unload.  We set up cones to make a separate lane for those shredding and they waited their turn in line.

As long as we put all limits and stipulations on our publicity and announcements, we didn't have many issues.  We only did the shredding at my last library once a year (because of cost), but we had calls several times a month asking when another event would be.  It was crazy popular.

Lou Morgan/WMU

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University students, faculty and staff are encouraged to “get their shred on” by participating in a free campuswide shredding event Tuesday, April 12, to ensure all professional or personal documents are properly destroyed and recycled.

The campus Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Committee is hosting the event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Lot 41 near Sangren Hall. A truck with several 95-gallon containers will be provided by Data Guardian for drop off. If documents are in recyclable containers such as paper or cardboard, the entire container can be placed into the bins or directly on the truck. All plastic and metal must be removed, but there is no need to remove rubber bands or paperclips. And new this year, CDs, DVDs and floppy disks will be accepted but must be placed in a separate container.

Paper documents are shredded and baled into 1,500 lb. bales. At the end of the destruction process, Data Guardian will issue a Certificate of Destruction verifying all material has been destroyed in a confidential manner. The bales of shredded paper are sent to a recycler for pulping. All recyclable material returns to the market in a variety of recycled paper products.

For those who are unable to make the event and have materials to be disposed of, contact Data Guardian to schedule a pickup, for a nominal fee, at (269) 327-8553.

Harrison Twp./Melissa Goins
We've done a total of 3 shred events in the past.  We used the company Bulldog all three times.  They charge an hourly rate and do not have a capacity limit.  We've limited the amount of materials that each individual may bring, but we don't limit to library card holders or residents only.  The event is paid for by our friends group and we let anyone come.  Guests can have two standard size boxes or bags per person (copy paper box and grocery bag are great references for standard sizes of each).  Beyond that Bulldog charges $5 per bag/box.  Although, I frequently tell folks if they have more than two, see if they can get a friend to come with them for drop off so they don't get charged.  We've never had an issue with over-filling the truck and I don't believe anyone has ever showed up with extras...they tend to just follow the rules.  The line moves rather quickly and one of the best tips I have is to make sure you have plenty of traffic control.  We block off some entrances to our parking lot to make sure that traffic only flows in one direction into the parking lot and out of the parking lot in one direction.  We also try to keep folks in their cars.  We have plenty of staff on hand and all three times, we've had library board members and Friends of the Library volunteer to help too.  As folks pull up to the side of the truck, we go to their cars with promotional library material and retrieve their bags/boxes for them.  They're always happy to pop the trunk or hand over their bags.  Bulldog has a video screen and if folks want to see their stuff shredded they can watch from their car.
As a side note, twice we had a state representative split the cost of shred day with us.  He had volunteers on hand to help as well and it worked out quite nice.  He was able to schmooze at a community event and he promoted the library too.  He kept asking folks if they had a library card and if they said no, he told them library cards were free today and they should definitely park and go get one.  Now...of course, library cards are free everyday, but for some reason they really did keep parking and coming in to get a card ☺. However, we now have a new state representative who has declined to participate with us, so we hosted the last one on our own and our director did the bit of schmoozing with the community and telling them library cards were free today.
I hope you have a wonderful shred day.  It is truly one of the most rewarding things we do for the community.  Please feel free to contact me if I can be of further assistance.


Harrison Twp./Dan Hutchins
In answer to your questions:

Did you provide shredding for free?
Yes, for the first two bags or boxes. Additional bags or boxes are $5 each. This helps to defray the cost of the shred day and moved things along.


If you charged, did you charge everyone? Or just those who brought bags or boxes past a certain quantity threshold?
See above.

If you did not charge but asked for donations, how did you set that up?
We've never asked for donations, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't.

How did you limit the event to only your patrons? Check ID? Require a library card?
We've never tried to limit it to our patrons. We've noted on the PR that it is for our residents only, but you will find on the day of the event that shred day is madness and it's easier just to take shredding from whoever comes than to spend time checking IDs or library cards. Also, most of the people you attract are likely to be seniors from your service area who are not library users and don't really care to become ones. Still, seniors vote and they'll remember you favorably the next time you ask for a millage increase or anything else.

Spring Lake/Lisa Donner
Spring Lake District Library has done several shred events now.  We’re fortunate to have a great community partner -Kent Record Management –who donates their services, so we do not charge. Anyone is welcome to bring their shred-ables, they don’t necessarily have to be library cardholders. There is a limit of 100 pounds per person.

We just advertise the date, block off space for the shred truck in the parking lot, and the staff of Kent Record Management does the rest.
When we first started the shred events, the company was able to shred the materials as people dropped them off, but they can no longer do that.  So now when we advertise the shred dates we include the info that the materials are not shredded on site at the library because that does seem to make a difference to some people.

It’s a very popular service, so we try to schedule two events each year, one in the spring (around Earth Day) and one in the fall.




Paula C. Drummond
Head, Adult Services Department
Ypsilanti District Library
5577 Whittaker Road
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
(734) 482-4110 Ext. 1306
drummond at ypsilibrary.org<mailto:drummond at ypsilibrary.org>

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