BUCKHANNON – A free residential paper-shredding event will take place this weekend at the Recycling Center on Mud Lick Road.
The event is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 17 at 380 Mud Lick Road off the Old Weston Road in Buckhannon. Belinda Lewis, director of the Upshur County Solid Waste Authority, said residents are asked to only bring two 13-gallon bags or two banker boxes.
“It’s totally free, and it’s a service the Upshur County Solid Waste Authority provides to the community so they can safely and securely dispose of items that have your Social Security number, address, phone numbers and other personal information on them,” Lewis said. “Some people have paper shredders at home, but I have one and it takes an awful lot of time to sit there and shred, whereas this is fast and totally 100 percent safe, as far as document information.”
Lewis said participants don’t even have to worry about removing staples from larger documents.
“I had a call today with a lady who needed to know if she had to sit and take all the staples out, and you don’t have to, it will shred with staples,” Lewis said. “It will actually shred while you’re there because some people have been a little bit leery and asked if [Recycling Center/SWA workers] put it in the truck and take it somewhere else, but no, it shreds right there.”
Lewis said paper-shredding events have remained popular, even during the pandemic.
“We’ll be doing another one in September because we try to do two a year and usually, we get probably between 5,500 to 6,000 pounds of shredded paper,” she said. “Even with COVID, in September 2020, we had almost 80 people participating, while we usually have about 100, so it’s really well used, and people look forward to it.”
The event used to be at the Crossroads Recycling Center adjacent to Walmart, but it will now take place at the Recycling Center on Mud Lick Road.
“The Upshur County Solid Waste Authority has a grant called Shred-It and they bring a gigantic truck with a shredder,” Lewis said. “We used to this at the Crossroads location by Walmart, but the traffic got really bad and was a little bit scary, so we’re trying this for the first time, and we hope members of the community will give it a try.”
City recorder and information coordinator for the City of Buckhannon Randy Sanders said the city fully supported the event and provided the new location.
“We support this 100 percent, we’re really excited that we’re able to provide them with the property to host this event, and we encourage everybody to participate,” Sanders said.
The Recycling Center at Mud Lick Road is also open from 7:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. on Saturdays. Items that can be recycled at the center include newspaper, corrugated cardboard, No. 1 plastic soda bottles, No. 2 clear milk jugs and aluminum and steel cans without liners. The center will also accept electronics, except computer monitors and TVs.
