Paper, Paper and More Paper; Records Set at Community Shred/Recycle Event

Lines of Shred-It trucks and groups of volunteers served the record-number 2,300 vehicles at the 

Shred/Recycling event at Montgomery College, Rockville campus.

The latest NBC4 Community Shred/Recycling event held in the Mannakee St. parking lot of Montgomery College, Rockville in late June resulted in high numbers and a couple of new records for this event.

• Total amount of paper brought for shredding/recycling:  40 tons (nearly 41 tons in 2013
• Total amount of cardboard brought for recycling:  2.23 tons (up from 1.23 tons in 2013)
• Total number of vehicles served:  2,300 (up from 1,580 in 2013)

The 42.23 tons of paper and cardboard recycled through the event is equal to two tractor trailers full of paper and cardboard. By recycling that tonnage into new paper products (versus manufacturing paper products from virgin materials), the County:

• Saved enough electricity to power 86 homes for a month;
• Reduced air pollution by the same amount as taking 93 cars off the road for a day;
• Saved enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool; and
• Saved 714 trees from being cut down.

The annual event is a partnership between NBC4, Allstate, Shred-It, Montgomery College, Montgomery County Government and Unity Disposal and Recycling.

The Division of Solid Waste Services (Dept. of Environmental Protection) thanks everyone who came out on a rainy Saturday to turn over their personal documents and other papers for shredding and recycling.