ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Executive Calvin Ball today announced that the County has expanded its second October document shredding event, with the launch of The BIG Shred on Saturday, October 28th, which will feature three shredding locations.
In 2022 alone, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 1.1 million reports of identity theft. As cases of identity theft and fraud continue to rise each year, it is imperative we do our part to ensure our residents have a way to protect themselves and their family’s information. Our yearly shredding events help to do just that. On October 28th, we are hosting The BIG Shred to provide our residents with not one, but three locations where they can safely and securely shred their confidential documents.
On the 28th, each event location will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (OR until the trucks are full):
- Long Gate Park & Ride, located off MD 100 Exit 1A in Ellicott City
- The overflow parking lot at Elkridge Landing Middle School, 7085 Montgomery Road in Elkridge
- North Laurel Community Center, 9411 Whiskey Bottom Road, Laurel
Howard County residents may bring up to three bags or boxes of paper to be shredded onsite. Residents are asked to ONLY bring documents to shred that contain personal information, such as account numbers, passwords, PINs, signatures, Social Security numbers, date of birth. This includes Federal and State Tax documents, credit card and other household bills, medical records, pay stubs, mortgage documents and insurance bills.
To ensure everyone has the opportunity to shred their important documents, residents are also asked to review their items carefully and remove all items that do not fall within the above listed categories. Items such as junk mail, schoolwork catalogs and office paper can and should be recycled with your curbside recycling collection.
For questions and/or more information about County-sponsored shredding events, visit the Department of Public Works’ Bureau of Environmental Services website at www.howardcountymd.gov/documentshredding or contact the Bureau at 410-313-6444 or email help@howardcountyrecycles.org.