Paper shredder bin.
Paper mills around the Midwest are desperate for recycled paper to make products like toilet paper and an Iowa paper shredding company is reaching out to its clients for help.
Nick Poulter is sales manager for The Shredder, which leaves large plastic bins at businesses to be filled with documents. The locked bins are rolled outside to specially-outfitted trucks and the contents are securely shredded.
“We have a minimum charge to come out but we’re giving everyone an additional free 95-gallon tote to be filled with the paper,” Poulter says. “Obviously, we still have our expenses we have to cover but if we can generate a little bit more paper from people around Des Moines, we can send that off to the mills and that’s just a little bit more help that we can give them.”
While many Iowans are working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Poulter says it’s not everyone. “We’re still noticing that some people are sitting in the office and working. The operations of the industry have stopped, but this gives them a chance to go through old paperwork that might be in a back storage room or down in the basement,” Poulter says. “Anything they don’t need, we can get that all shreded up securely for them.”
The Shredder is based in Des Moines and serves clients across Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Poulter says the paper mills are in various locations. “We have a couple that we send it to,” Poulter says. “It all comes down to where ABC Recycling wants to send it. That’s who we send all of our shredded paper to and it comes down to who they want to send it to, who’s got more demand, who’s getting a better price.”
The company’s website says the business was launched in 2010 by a University of Iowa MBA graduate. One estimate shows home toilet paper use is up 40% due to so many people working from home.