Document Shredding Events Relaunched In Westchester County

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY—For Westchester County residents who need to shred their old documents, they'll have an opportunity to once again do so beginning Saturday, Aug. 1, according to Westchester County Executive George Latimer. The events had been on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2019, thousands of residents took advantage of the program, and as a result, the county was able to shred almost 700 tons of documents. During the events, visitors can bring up to four file-size boxes of personal papers to get rid of.

For the program, the county’s two shredder trucks visit municipalities throughout Westchester and provide secure, confidential document shredding services to residents.

The county’s Department of Environmental Facilities (DEF), the agency that operates the shredder program, then works with a contractor to market and sell the recyclable shredded paper produced at these events.

“DEF is excited to resume offering document shredding services to our residents. Fortunately, throughout the COVID crisis we’ve been able to offer shredding services to municipal government agencies, and we’ve kept the Household-Material Recovery Facility (H-MRF) open, which offers document shredding services for residents plus a whole lot more,” DEF Deputy Commissioner Louis Vetrone said.

Officials said due to the popularity of the shredder program, municipalities must submit a request to host a shredder event and the event schedule is prepared at the beginning of the year. For more information on the county’s documents shredding program and the schedule of upcoming shredder events please visit this link or contact the county’s recycling helpline at 914- 813-5425.

The H-MRF, which is located at 15 Woods Rd. on the Valhalla Campus is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m.- 3 p.m.. If residents are unable to bring their documents to one of the upcoming shredder events they can have them destroyed at the H-MRF.

The H-MRF also provides a drop-off location for other hard-to-dispose-of items such as fertilizers, pesticides, household cleaning chemicals, electronic waste, Freon-containing appliances, textiles and more.