Community Shred Day
A Success
ROCHESTER,
N.Y.
(May 12,
2009) – On May 12, approximately 155 local residents shredded over 12,000 lbs.
of paper during Community Shred Day, a free community event sponsored by
Classified Shredding Services in partnership with the New York State Consumer
Protection Board. The aim was to raise public awareness of the need to securely
destroy confidential material in order to prevent identity theft and fraud as
well as encourage people to recycle more.
“We are
hoping to affect a culture shift from just throwing things away to shredding and
recycling unwanted documents, “ said CPB Chairperson and Executive Director
Mindy A. Bockstein, “Document shredding has become an essential weapon in the
fight against identity theft.” Identity theft ranks first on the Federal Trade
Commission’s Top Complaints Listing for 2008, and New York still ranks 6th
in the nation for identity theft complaints.
A study of
2008 identity theft trends conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research reported
that in ID theft cases, from 2005 to 2008, 71% of the incidents began less than
a week after the theft of sensitive information or items for victims. Identity
thieves commonly use techniques to obtain the personal identification
information of others, such as dumpster diving. Dumpster diving, is the process
of looking through trash for private information that can be harvested and used
by unauthorized individuals.
Classified
Shredding Services, a division of Lifetime Assistance, Inc., is a certified
member of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID). NAID is
an international, non-profit trade association responsible for educating
businesses, industries and government agencies of the importance of destroying
discarded information and the value of contract destruction services. NAID also
holds the industry’s highest certification program, which establishes minimum
standards for employee screening, operations, insurance requirements and
destruction processes.
“It is a
great benefit to the individuals who are employed by the Lifetime Assistance
Work Center to be able to do meaningful work such as this,” said Jamie
Branciforte, CEO of Lifetime Assistance. “Our goal is to shred documents
according to strict standards to protect the privacy of those involved and to be
environmentally- and consumer-friendly at the same time.”
“This is
our sixth Shred Day event and each one is more successful than the last,”
continued Lou Ann Owens, Marketing & Sales Manager for Classified Shredding
Services. “Last year, during our fall event, consumers shred more than 4,000
lbs. of personal records. This year participants shred over 12,000 lbs. It is
not unrealistic to think that we will hit the 20,000 lb. mark at our next
event.”
The next
Community Shred Day is planned for sometime in October or November. For more
information about this event, please contact Lou Ann Owens at 585-756-2233 or
info@ClassifiedShredding.com.
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