More Dates Scheduled for Free Document Shredding

All Somerset Hills residents will be able to take their old personal and business documents for free shredding at two additional municipal shredding operations scheduled this year in Bernards Township and Bedminster Township.

Bedminster Township will sponsor the first shred day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, at the Bedminster Public Works Garage at 75 Miller Lane, Bedminster. Bernards Township is scheduled to sponsor a second shred day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8, at the Bernards Township Engineering Services Building, 277 S. Maple Avenue, Basking Ridge.

Residents from Bernards, Bedminster, Bernardsville, Far Hills and Peapack-Gladstone are invited to have personal documents shredded at either location on both dates. The events will be held rain or shine, according to a joint announcement from Bernards Township and Bedminster.

The cost of the shredding operation will be completely picked up by Somerset County, said Judy Sullivan, township clerk and administrator in Bedminster.

Based on the success of last year’s municipal shred days, over 100,000 lbs. of paper documents shredded, the Somerset County Consumer Protection Group and the County Records Management Group decided to again sponsor municipal shred days for 2011, according to the news release.

Documents will be commercially shredded safely, privately and properly by trained, licensed and bonded document-destruction specialists, the release said.

Residents may bring their documents in whatever type of container they wish.  Staples and paperclips do not have to be removed.  Papers will be dumped and the container will be returned to the resident.  Participants may stay and watch the process, if they wish.

Sullivan said municipal employees from each of the five Somerset Hills towns will be at the shredding operations to assist those who bring their documents. She said the shredding service is primarily for residents, but local businesses may bring their documents near the end of the scheduled time slot.

Bernards Township Mayor John Malay, who has assisted at previous shred operations held in the township in the past two years, said, “Identity theft is a growing problem to our personal security. We want to help our residents protect themselves and address this problem by the free and safe destruction of sensitive, but out of date documents like old tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, medical records and other documents with personal information."

Malay noted that most recent estimates are that 10 million citizens were affected by identity theft last year."

“By partnering with our neighboring municipalities, we are able to offer residents of Bernards, Bedminster, Bernardsville, Far Hills and Peapack-Gladstone two opportunities to safely dispose of their records," said Bedminster Mayor Robert Holtaway. Holtaway thanked Somerset County for funding the initiative. 

The release said that a 2005 Federal Trade Commission survey released in Nov. 2007 revealed that 8.3 million Americans had been victims of identity theft in 2005. According to the Better Business Bureau and Javelin Strategy & Research, in 2007, victims of identity theft numbered over 30 million people, representing $49.3 billion in losses and $5,720 per victim. The mean resolution time for the average victim was 25 hours.

 For further information, contact the Bernards Township Municipal Clerk online or at 908-204-3001; or the Bedminster Township Administrator/Municipal Clerk online or at  908-212-7000, ext. 401.