River Cities Business Journal: Business Profile

Getting serious about shredding; Mobile paper shredder can handle 2 1/2 tons an hour

River Cities Business Journal

KINGMAN - When you think of paper shredders you think of something that sits on top of a wastepaper basket and cuts sheets of paper into a dozen or so strips.

When Scott McCoy thinks of his paper shredder he's thinking of a 2004 Freightliner with a Mercedes Benz engine.

McCoy owns Ultimate Shred, a mobile shredding service that pulverizes documents at the rate of 5,000 pounds an hour.

McCoy's 12-foot tall, 36-foot long truck has a hammer mill shredder mounted on it that can not only shred paper, but can digest binders, notebooks and even big metal paper clips, he said.

“If you can fit it in, it'll shred it,” McCoy said.

One big advantage is the speed at which the machine operates.

“A home shredder typically takes two or three sheets at a time. You can do about 30 pounds an hour,” the retired jeweler said. “My shredder has a capacity of 5,000 pounds an hour. That's the equivalent of about 150 average size banker boxes.”

The end result of Ultimate Shred is also different from the typical shredded paper. It isn't in strips. It ends up as what might be considered confetti.

With strip shredders it really wouldn't be too difficult to reconstruct a document if you have all the pieces and the time to work at it.

But, once all the thumbnail-sized pieces of paper in McCoy's shredder are mixed with the thousands of other pieces it would be impossible to reassemble a document.

Ultimate Shred isn't the only commercial shredding service in the area, but the others pick up the paper and take it back to Los Angeles or Phoenix and shred there. They also sort all the paper for recycling, because that is where they make a big portion of their profit, McCoy said.

That means that someone handles all the paper they take in and has a chance to read the customer's sensitive information, McCoy said.

McCoy donates his shredded paper to a local recycling center.

McCoy's services aren't cheap.

It runs about $60 for him to make a stop.

“It's not inexpensive, but if you have sensitive documents that need to be destroyed it's worth the $60 minimum I have for the security.

McCoy's services are available throughout the Tri-State area. In Kingman drop-offs can be made at the UPS store at 3880 Stockton Hill Road.

To contact McCoy call 757-8889.