The Ocean County 2022 Residential Document Shredding Program will begin its second string of dates on Sept. 10 at the Manchester Township Soccer Fields parking lot, 101 South Colonial Drive.

“This program continues to be popular with our residents,” said Ocean County Commissioner Barbara Jo Crea, who is liaison to the Ocean County recycling program. “We are pleased to be able to give our residents the opportunity to rid their homes of personal documents that should be shredded for security reasons.”

Sponsored by the Ocean County Board of Commissioners, the residential document-shredding program is free to Ocean County residents only and commercial documents will not be accepted at the collection sites.  ​​

​“You are not limited to which site you attend, so we encourage residents to go to whichever date is most convenient for them,” Crea said.

While registration is not required, she noted the program is very popular and often sites fill up fast.

The shred units feature an automatic feeding and dumping system that eliminates human contact with private documents.  Residents are limited to five file boxes or 100 pounds of confidential documents per car. The contractor for the program is IDSAutoshred of Toms River.

Each shredding event runs from 9 a.m. to noon or until the trucks are full. Each truck has a capacity to hold five to seven tons of paper and all documents are destroyed confidentially on site.

The dates and locations for the fall 2022 schedule are:

Sept. 10 – Manchester Township, Soccer Field Lot, 101 South Colonial Drive

Sept. 17 – Lacey Township Recycling Center Parking Lot, 820 Municipal Lane

Sept. 24 – Barnegat Township Recycling Center Lot, 5 Lippencott Avenue

Oct. 1 – Ship Bottom Municipal Boat Ramp, West 10thStreet and Shore Avenue

Oct. 15 – Brick Township Public Works Lot, 836 Ridge Road

Oct. 22 – Beachwood Municipal Complex Parking Lot, 1600 Pinewald Road

The program is for all paper documents and paper forms; paper clips and staples need not be removed.  

Unacceptable items include magazines, books, junk mail, hanging file folders, greeting cards, photos, x-rays, CDs, floppy disks, microfilm, shredded paper and garbage.In addition, moldy or wet paper and plastic bags should not be included in the shredding.

“Our residents are aware of the problems that can be caused by identity theft,” said Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners John P. Kelly. “Not only does this program help our residents add a layer of personal security as they rid of old personal documents, but it also helps the environment by recycling the paper properly.”

For residents who prefer to shred documents at home, Ocean County offers drop-off boxes at both County recycling centers for shredded office paper.  

Shredded office paper should not be placed with curbside recyclables, and should instead be brought to the drop-off boxes (near Building 105 at the Ocean County Southern Recycling Center in Stafford Township or Building 68 at the Ocean County Northern Recycling Center in Lakewood) for recycling.  Shredded paper cannot be effectively sorted by the County’s Recyclable Materials Processing Facility and therefore needs to be recycled separately in order to produce a viable, marketable commodity.