Erie County, City of Buffalo to Sponsor Event for Safe Disposal of Confidential Personal Papers

ERIE COUNTY, NY— The Erie County Department of Environment & Planning (“DEP”) will be joined by the City of Buffalo in celebrating “America Recycles Day” on Saturday, November 9, 2013 from 9:00 AM - noon with a Community Shredding Event designed for residents to safely and securely shred and recycle their household & confidential personal papers at any of the three Erie Community College locations. Papers suitable for shredding include any confidential documents containing account numbers or social security numbers, bank or medical statements, tax documents, or other paper items of a personal nature. There will be a five (5) box limit per vehicle, and all materials will be shredded on-site.

“Taking part in this event is a good way for individuals to confidently dispose of papers that may be personal or sensitive in nature and cannot be recycled with other paper items,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “Too often, privacy is invaded and confidentiality breached when personal information falls into the wrong hands, so I encourage all residents to take advantage of this opportunity to dispose of any items that they wouldn’t want others to see. Recycling is the easiest thing we can do all 365 days a year to save energy, conserve natural resources, and create green jobs. ”

“I encourage city residents to bring their household and personal papers to this community shredding event that is designed to help fight identity theft,” said Mayor Byron Brown.  “I am pleased that the city and county are teaming up to provide this important public service to residents at no cost.  By taking part, consumers can ensure that documents containing their personal information do not fall into the wrong hands.”

Document shredding services are being provided at no charge by shredding partner Cintas Document Management, who will also be recycling all shredded paper on site. Participants are advised not to bring any non-confidential papers, such as newspapers, junk mail, envelopes, magazines, etc. which will not be accepted. These items can be included with regular municipal paper recycling. This event is only for residents; no business shredding will be accepted.

Community Shred Event to celebrate “America Recycles Day”:

• ECC North campus, 6205 Main St., Williamsville NY (use Tech Rd.)
• ECC City campus, 121 Ellicott St., Buffalo NY   (drop off on Swan St.)
• ECC South campus, 4041 Southwestern Blvd., Orchard Park NY   (DMV Lot)

The event will be held from 9:00 AM – noon at each location. Volunteers are needed to assist on-site; please contact Gary Carrel in Erie County DEP at (716) 858-4805 for more information.

America Recycles Day is a national initiative by Keep America Beautiful and is the only nationally recognized day and community-driven awareness event dedicated to Promoting and celebrating recycling in the U.S.  Since 1997, communities across the country have participated in America Recycles Day to promote recycling awareness, commitment, and action.  On or around November 15 (America Recycles Day) events are organized to educate neighbors, friends and colleagues through thousands of events.