Westchester is taking a stand against identity theft. The county is providing a paper-shredder truck to help residents destroy unwanted personal papers and documents with personal identifying information. Watch the Mobile Shredder in action.

The Mobile Shredder's free services are for residents only. Businesses, schools and institutions should contact professional shredding companies for shredding services.

The county's Mobile Shredder will be at all Household Recycling Days. In addition, it is available at Mobile Shredder events for local communities. Check out the 2008 recycling schedule to see when the truck will be in a location convenient to you.  Contact your local municipality if you would like to have the Mobile Shredder come to your neighborhood. Municipal departments and non-profit organizations who want to schedule a ‘shred-a-thon’ should call 211, the county’s Recycling Office.

One of the best ways to minimize the risk of identity theft is to shred documents you're no longer using, like old documents and bills, that bear personal identifying information such as name, address, phone number, credit card number or social security number. Such documents should be shredded before they are thrown out for recycling.

Among the documents that should be shredded before disposal are:

• junk mail
• old utility bills
• driver licenses
• expired credit cards and receipts
• old tax returns or any other documents containing your name, address and other identifying information
• pre-approved credit card applications

Papers from businesses, schools, institutions, government offices or commercial enterprises will not be accepted. County staff will inspect all paper to be shredded and will reject any paper identified as commercial or institutional.  As this service is gaining in popularity, residents should be prepared to wait as lines are sometimes long.

However, the wait doesn't have to be that long.  Come prepared.  This means you've removed all metal clips, fasteners, binders, folders and hard covers and placed the papers loosely in a box. Hard covers – cardboard or plastic covers on items such as ledger books, marble composition books and hard-cover books – cannot be shredded and will be turned away. Residents must rip pages out from hard cover books for shredding and throw the covers in their regular household trash. Up to four boxes of papers are allowed for shredding.

For more information about identity theft, call the Dept. of Consumer Protection (914) 995-2155.  For questions about recycling, call 211, the Recycling HelpLine.