Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409290039
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By CLAUDINE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So confidential that it won't disclose the location of its nondescript brown, cement-block building. Also secret are the names of its customers.
Only employees know exactly what the company shreds behind its locked doors on Mary Linda Drive off U.S. 460 in Roanoke. And they won't tell.
"There are certain things they won't allow me to say," said Bruce Tucker, an office manager in Shred-All's Richmond office. "I can't put myself at risk."
Shred-All's clientele includes banks, credit card companies and, of course, the federal government. The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company said it is authorized to handle classified documents.
The company keeps a low profile, and customers like it that way. Businesses that handle sensitive documents seek a company that protects their identities and the location of their trash, said Theo Harnage, Shred-All's national accounts manager.
"They ask us not to tell where we are," she said. "We are not trying to be evasive or secretive. We just have to be careful about what we say and who we speak to."
Everyone in the company is close-mouthed. Incoming calls automatically are rerouted and handled through headquarters in Jacksonville.
The company operates Virginia branches in Richmond and Norfolk as well as Roanoke. The local operation was created to serve NationsBank and now counts FIrst Union National Bank of Virginia and Norfolk Southern Corp. among its customers.
What the outfit does is nothing special, Harnage said. "Our services are common; people just can't throw things away anymore," she said.
The seven employees who work in the Roanoke office are trained to identify 17 colors and textures of paper. They manually sort three to four tons of paper, plastic and some metals every week.
After sorting the paper, it is bound and delivered to paper mills, which pay Shred-All. Shred-All, in turn, rebates to its customers a percentage of the money it receives from the mills. Recently, the paper mills were quoting prices of $35 to $55 a ton for recyclable paper.
Paper and trash that is not recyclable is shredded and sent to landfills.
Because of the company's tight security, getting a job with Shred-All requires a squeaky-clean police record. The company's insurance agency makes certain that all potential employees are given extensive background and police record checks. Shred-All trash collectors must be bonded for $5 million.
Harnage would not say what would happen to an employee who violated security policies, and she was mum on efforts the company takes to prevent pilfering of documents.
"We do have internal security," she said.
Getting into the company's warehouse is not easy. Even potential customers must pass criminal records checks before touring the facility. They also must be bonded for a day.
Banks account for most of Shred-All's business, Harnage said. Some banks employ the company's "Search and Recovery" program, which helps to find documents or checks that have been accidentally discarded.
Although Shred-All customers are eager to discuss the tons of trash they recycle, they refuse to talk about the material that is thrown into the nonrecyclable bin.
"They do recycling and we are going to embark in a program of aluminum recycling where we use Shred-All," said Scott Scredon, NationsBank spokesman.
by CNB