OfficePaper Systems offer free paper-shredding service for County residents

As 2010 comes to a close, many families who are tidying up their budgets need a place to safely dispose of their old bank records and credit card statements.

OfficePaper Systems, a Gaithersburg-based paper shredding and recycling company, will securely destroy any sensitive materials for free as part of their new drop-off program to give back to the community while increasing environmental awareness.

"We've always had a heartfelt spot for the community," said Data Security Manager Chris Thompson, who added that the company has been operated out of Gaithersburg for the past 20 years. "We're content in the area, we want to help, and we feel this is a pocket in which we can do that."

Between 8:30am and 3:30pm every Monday through Friday, the company welcome County residents and small business owners to stop by their plant on Airpark Road and drop off up to 10 bags or boxes of paper. The hauls will be weighed, covered for ensured confidentiality, and fed into OPS's high-tech shredder that converts the loads into fully-recyclable bales.

Residents can also pay an optional $30 charge to take an escorted trip inside the facilities and witness the process first-hand.

"From the point-of-view of an individual, our service provides a secure method that also lets people contribute positively to the environment," Thompson said.

He added that, while each individual drop-off might not seem like it makes that big of a difference, the environmental benefit is staggering.

"We get to see the amount that actually gets turned into recyclable material, the bigger picture," he said," and it goes a long way to saving trees, reclaiming landfills and that's something we're all about."

The idea for the service, which debuted in January 2010, came out of a sense of need the company understood while conducting community outreach events.

"We'd meet members of the public who would've had to take very expensive measures to securely dispose of their sensitive documents if it weren't for our community shredding events and they were very thankful," Thompson said, referencing their clinic at Gaithersburg High School on Saturday as part of America Recycle's Day that served over 300 residents.

Since introducing their drop-off program, Thompson said OPS has seen loads come from as far as Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia. The company has plans to launch a new website (freesecureshredding.com) next week and expand the program to include evening and/or weekend hours.

"The more people who know about [our service,] the more we can help."