University of Rochester
Sustainability @ the
University of Rochester
Protect Your Identity and the Environment at the Personal Documents Roundup on July 15th
July 2011
Identity theft has become a major issue in recent years especially in the United States. In fact, in the US in 2010 alone, at least 11.1 million people were victims to identity theft. The effects can be devastating to individuals and families who can go thousands of dollars into debt at the hands of identity thieves. One of the most common and easiest ways for criminals to get a hold of the information necessary to steal a person’s identity is through sensitive information that is carelessly disposed of, chiefly documents that contain confidential information. However, the problem can easily be prevented by shredding such documents.
As a free service to its employees, The University of Rochester Facilities and Services department is holding the Personal Documents Roundup on Friday, July 15th. During this event, all University staff and faculty are invited to bring in their personal documents from home to be disposed of in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.
Oftentimes when people are concerned about identity theft they will opt to dispose of their paper documents directly into the trash as a way of minimizing risk. However, this unfortunately results in the disposal of large quantities of paper that could have been recycled. The Personal Documents Roundup creates the perfect opportunity to prevent this waste since the paper documents will be securely shredded so that the information it contains is inaccessible, and then it will be recycled. So by participating in this event, you’re protecting both your identity and the environment! Iron Mountain, the company trusted by the University of Rochester to securely recycle confidential documents, will be responsible for the document disposal at this event.
The Personal Documents Roundup will take place from 7:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Friday, July 15th in the University of Rochester’s Park Lot (see below), so employees can drop in at any time during the course of the day at their own convenience. For those of you who are familiar with the very popular annual Electronics Collection event, it will be held in the same location and will have a similar set up where you can drive up, unload your vehicle with the help of event volunteers, and then continue on to the rest of your day. There will be a Mobile Shred Truck onsite where the actual shredding will take place. The documents will be placed into a locked container and sent down a chute to be shredded.
The Personal Documents Roundup can support the shredding of any paper documents, including folders and even spiral notebooks. It is not necessary to remove any staples, paper clips, or rubber bands, but only paper will be accepted. For details please see the flyer on the University’s Sustainability webpage at: www.rochester.edu/sustainability/ShredPoster.pdf . Any questions can be directed to the University’s Recycling Coordinator, Amy Kadrie, by calling 362-5739 or emailing amy.kadrie@rochester.edu.
