Shred Plus -- it cuts through the paperwork

By Jim Obert

Business Today

In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the California vs. Greenwood case that garbage is public domain. The court upheld a police search, claiming that bags of trash left on the side of the street were open to inspection by "animals, children, scavengers, snoops and other members of the public."

This ruling allows "dumpster divers" to go through personal trash and extract any information they want, such as credit card slips, loan applications, bank statements and medical records.

Identity fraud is the criminal misappropriation of another person's identity. Identifying data such as name, birth date and Social Security number are all thieves need to perpetrate identity theft. This information is easily found on driver's licenses, personal checks and unsolicited credit card offers. It is a big problem.

Enter Shred Plus, the only Cape Girardeau-area shredding service that operates a mobile shredding truck. This allows businesses and individuals to shred their confidential material on-site and in large volume.

Owners Mike and Michele Griffin say most in-house shredding methods are slow and dusty, and shredders are prone to jamming. Also, if a company asks employees to shred documents internally, the potential exists that confidentiality could be jeopardized.

The Griffins say the state of Missouri, concerned about the security of its material, awards shredding contracts only to companies that provide mobile on-site shredding.

"We've researched theft and fraud, and new laws are dictating how you can destroy, store and retrieve documents," said Michele Griffin. "A business can't just throw confidential information into dumpsters any more. There are major fines to be levied."

Griffin said the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 calls for civil and criminal penalties for noncompliance as relates to health-care providers and patients' rights to privacy. A special Privacy Rule went into effect April 14.

"There are several different part to the law, and we're involved in the privacy of medical records," said Griffin.

Mike Griffin said Shred Plus is used by local financial institutions to destroy credit card vouchers, loan applications and other documents. Other clients include builder supply companies, nursing homes and service stations.

Clients' private documents are secured in locked storage containers, carried out of the building by bonded, uniformed staff members, loaded onto the lift gate of the truck and shredded to 5/16-inch strips. Clients can witness the shredding.

"Our industrial shredder will accept paper clips and staples, so there's no need to remove them," said Mike Griffin. "We will return binders, files boxes and folders to the clients."

The Griffins became interested in the document shredding business when they lived in Phoenix, Ariz. They planned to move to Cape Girardeau and were looking for a niche business. They visited people in several parts of the country who ran shredding businesses. Mike Griffin attended a shredding workshop in Pittsburgh, Pa., and then purchased an industrial shredder.

The shredder can cut through 600 to 900 pounds of paper per hour. The blades are self-sharpening. Besides paper, the machine can shred credit cards, computer disks, CDs, X-rays, microfiche and plastic bottles used for medicine prescriptions.

Michele Griffin says cardboard is not shredded, but it is baled and recycled. Shredded paper is bagged and recycled if the paper is free of most contaminates.

Customers can choose from six packages of service. Fees are based on weight and the number of pick-ups per month.

Storage of documents is also part of the business.

"We do about 80 percent shredding and 20 percent storage," said Mike Griffin. "We have a large, secure, climate-controlled facility for storage, and we'll take any kind of archived records. People number their boxes and they can come here to get them or we'll deliver."

Griffin said the storage building is unmarked and entry is by appointment only. Arrangements can be made to shred stored records that are no longer needed.