THE OCEAN COUNTY 2022 Residential Document Shredding Program will hold its first shredding event on April 2 at the Berkeley Township Recycling Center parking lot, 630 Pinewald Keswick Road.

"This is the first of 15 opportunities our residents have to rid their homes of personal documents that should be shredded for security purposes," said Ocean County Commissioner Barbara Jo Crea, who is liaison to the Ocean County recycling program. "This program has grown in popularity and we are very pleased to offer it again this year to our residents."

The program, sponsored by the Ocean County Board of Commissioners, is free to Ocean County residents only and commercial documents will not be accepted at the collection sites.

"I encourage our residents to attend any of the sites available during this year's program," Crea said. "You are not limited to which sites you can attend. We hold it across the County to make certain it's convenient for our residents."

While registration is not required, she noted the program is very popular and often sites fill up fast.
The shred units feature an automatic feeding and dumping system that eliminates human contact with private documents. Residents are limited to five file boxes or 100 pounds of confidential documents per car. The contractor for the program is IDSAutoshred of Toms River.

Each shredding event runs from 9 a.m. to noon or until the trucks are full. Each truck has a capacity to hold five to seven tons of paper and all documents are destroyed confidentially on site.

The dates and locations for the 2022 schedule are:
April 2 - Berkeley Township Lot, 630 Pinewald Keswick Road
April 9 - Seaside Park Parking Lot, South Bayview and 14th Avenues
April 23 - Stafford Township, Ocean County Southern Recycling Center, 379 Haywood Road
May 6 - Lakewood Public Works Lot, 1 America Ave.,
May 14 - Little Egg Harbor Township Community Center Parking Lot, 319 W. Calabreeze Way
May 20 - Toms River Township, Riverwood Park Parking Lot, 250 Riverwood Drive
June 4 - Jackson Township Municipal Building Rear Parking Lot, 95 West Veterans Highway
June 18 - Waretown Municipal Complex Lot, 50 Railroad Avenue
June 25 - Point Pleasant High School Rear Parking Lot, 2300 Panther Path
Sept. 10 - Manchester Township, Soccer Field Lot, 101 South Colonial Drive
Sept. 17 - Lacey Township Recycling Center Parking Lot, 820 Municipal Lane
Sept. 24 - Barnegat Township Recycling Center Lot, 5 Lippencott Avenue
Oct. 1 - Ship Bottom Municipal Boat Ramp, West 10th Street and Shore Avenue
Oct. 15 - Brick Township Public Works Lot, 836 Ridge Road
Oct. 22 - Beachwood Municipal Complex Parking Lot, 1600 Pinewald Road

Crea noted that in 2021, 4,615 household participated in the program, an increase of 7 percent over 2020.

"The 2021 Residential Document Shredding Program resulted in 107.3 tons of documents being shredded, a 15 percent increase over 2020," she said.

The program is for all paper documents and paper forms; paper clips and staples need not be removed.

Unacceptable items include magazines, books, junk mail, hanging file folders, greeting cards, photos, x-rays, CDs, floppy disks, microfilm, shredded paper and garbage. In addition, moldy or wet paper and plastic bags should not be included in the shredding.

"Our residents are mindful of the problems caused by identity theft," said Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners John P. Kelly. "This program adds a layer of personal security for our citizens as they get rid of old, personal documents. It helps our residents and it helps the environment."

For residents who prefer to shred documents at home, Ocean County offers drop-off boxes at both County recycling centers for shredded office paper.

Shredded office paper should not be placed with curbside recyclables, and should instead be brought to the drop-off boxes (near Building 105 at the Ocean County Southern Recycling Center in Stafford Township or Building 68 at the Ocean County Northern Recycling Center in Lakewood) for recycling. Shredded paper cannot be effectively sorted by the County's Recyclable Materials Processing Facility and therefore needs to be recycled separately in order to produce a viable, marketable commodity.