Shredding documents is big business. Allshred Services in Maumee is one of the biggest privately held shredding companies in America.
Senior vice president Tom Huth says simply shredding your papers at home or tearing them up and throwing them out often doesn't cut it. "There's software that will take pieces of paper and put them back together. It may take awhile, but it happens and that's why you need to bring your documents to a company like us instead of throwing it on the trash."
How does shredding your documents at a place like Allshred differ from a home shredder? The entire process happens in about a minute and that's by design. Things need to get in and out quickly to maintain security.
It all starts with a shredder. After the first shredder, the paper moves along a conveyor belt into a second shredder. The final phase of the process takes the once-important documents and puts them in a bale which is then shipped out within 24 hours.
The bales are taken to a mill in Wisconsin where the ink is washed off and the paper is recycled, meaning all of your information is completely gone.
That is crucial to protecting yourself because once a thief gets hold of your personal information, you can spend years clearing your name and police say it's often not easy to catch the crooks.
Lt. Dave Schmidt heads up the property investigation section of the Toledo police department. He told us, "It's a serious problem that is tough to prosecute and the bad guys figure that out quickly. If they put as much effort into working as they do illegal things, they could probably get good jobs because some of it takes time and takes some skill."
Lt. Schmidt says you also need to keep a watchful eye on your credit report. In fact, you can get free reports once a year from all three credit bureaus. The only official website for doing that is AnnualCreditReport.com.
Lt. Schmidt says, "You can protect against 99% of identity theft by taking care of your own business, keeping a watchful eye on stuff and making sure you are not passing out your information to everybody."
Lt. Schmidt says there's another alternative to a shredder when it comes to destroying documents -- your fireplace. He says using your papers as kindling will obviously protect your information as well.
The Allshred people point out that it's also important to destroy your computer hard drives. Don't just use programs that claim to wipe out all the information.
If you're interested in Allshred Services, you can actually take your documents to the plant in Maumee and watch as everything is destroyed.
