County-run shredding event scheduled for June 26

            SOMERVILLE – Somerset County residents from its 21 municipalities are invited to have personal documents shredded at a free, on-site, mobile paper-shredding event Saturday, June 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Shredding will take place in the Somerset County Board of Social Services’ parking lot at 73 E. High St. , between Grove and Mechanic streets, rain or shine.  Access to the parking lot will be from the westbound side of East High Street.

            Documents will be commercially shredded safely, privately and properly by trained, licensed and bonded document-destruction specialists.  Staples and paperclips do not have to be removed.  Residents may bring documents in any type of container, which will be returned after papers have been dumped.  Participants may stay and watch the process, if they wish. 

Shredding will continue throughout the scheduled hours, with a possible delay if the truck reaches capacity.  In that case, the truck will leave to dump its contents and will return to resume shredding documents.

            “Properly disposing of personal documents is a necessary step in safeguarding and protecting your personal information and credit and preventing identify theft,” said Freeholder Peter S. Palmer, consumer protection liaison.

            A second county-run shredding event sponsored by the Somerset County Board of Freeholders and open to all county residents is planned for Saturday, Oct. 2.

            Also, with assistance from the Somerset County Consumer Protection Office and the county’s Records Management Office, the Borough of Bernardsville will hold a shredding event for its residents on June 5 and Bernards Township   on Oct. 9.  You may call your town directly to learn if it will be holding a shredding event.  A listing of towns in Somerset County can be found on the county Web site at www.co.somerset.nj.us/towndir.html.

            Residents of towns holding shredding events may take advantage of their local shredding event as well as the county’s shredding events on June 26 and Oct. 2.

“Operation Secure Shred” is sponsored by the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders and is a courtesy of the Somerset County Division of Consumer Protection. 

According to 2009 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) statistics, identity theft affects as many as 10 million people in the United States annually.  This results in losses to financial and business organizations totaling $53 billion per year.

            For further information, contact the Somerset County Division of Consumer Protection at (908) 203-6080 or consumerprotection@co.somerset.nj.us.