NOW IN ITS 15TH YEAR, the Ocean County Residential Document Shredding Program will kick off its 2023 schedule on March 29 in Lakewood Township.

"We are happy to see this program continues to be popular with our residents," said Ocean County Commissioner Barbara Jo Crea, who is liaison to the Ocean County Department of Solid Waste Management. "Not only is it an efficient and safe way to dispose of personal documents, but it is free to Ocean County residents."

Supported by the Ocean County Board of Commissioners, the residential document-shredding program is free to Ocean County residents only and commercial documents will not be accepted at the collection sites.

"In 2022, 90 tons of paper were recycled all of which was collected at the County's Residential Document Shredding sites," said Crea. "You are not limited to which site you have to attend, so we encourage residents to go to whichever is more convenient for them."

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 four file boxes or clear bags, or 100 pounds of confidential documents per car. Paper must be in a manageable container; paper clips and staples do not need to be removed.

The contractor for the 2023 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 2023 schedule are:
March 29 – Lakewood Township, Public Works Yard, 1 America Avenue
April 1 – Berkeley Township, Recycling Center Lot, 630 Pinewald Keswick Road
April 15 – Seaside Heights, Recycling Center Lot, Bay Boulevard and Sherman Avenue
April 29 – Stafford Township, Ocean County Southern Recycling Center, 279 Haywood Road
May 13 – Waretown, Municipal Complex Lot, 50 Railroad Avenue
May 19 – Toms River Township, Riverwood Parking Lot, 250 Riverwood Drive
June 3 – Jackson Township, Municipal Building Rear Lot, 95 West Veterans Highway
June 17 – Little Egg Harbor Township, Community Center Lot, 319 West Cala Breeze Way
June 24 – Point Pleasant Borough High School Lot, 2300 Panther Path
Sept. 9 – Manchester Township, Soccer Field, 101 South Colonial Drive
Sept. 16 – Lacey Township, Recycling Center Lot, 820 Municipal Lane
Sept. 23 – Barnegat Township, Recycling Center Lot, 5 Lippincott Avenue
Oct. 14 – Beach Haven, Parking Lot, Taylor Avenue
Oct. 21 – Brick Township, Public Works Yard, 836 Ridge Road
Oct. 28 – Beachwood, Municipal Complex Lot, 1600 Pinewald Road

Residents are asked to remain in their vehicles at all times, and to have the materials to be shredded in the trunk, cargo area, or truck bed of their vehicle to make it easily accessible to the staff who will remove them.

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.

"This program offers security to our residents and also keeps all of this paper out of the Ocean County Landfill," said the Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners Joseph H. Vicari. "We encourage our citizens to take advantage of the programs offered and to help make a difference in preserving our natural resources."

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.

For more information on the Residential Document Shredding Program, visit www.co.ocean.nj.us/recycle.