Gorge Security Shred

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There is a new kind of shredding for the Gorge! With our abundance of wind, water and snow sports, shredding has meant radical sports moves… but with the start-up of Gorge Security Shred’s document destruction business, the only shredding business located in the Gorge, “shredding the Gorge” has another connotation.

Gorge Security Shred, a division of Opportunity Connections, is now in full operation. The idea for starting a document destruction company came from Rita Rathkey, Executive Director of Opportunity Connections, a non-profit organization that serves people with developmental and physical disabilities. Rathkey had talked with administrators of many similar agencies around the state about ways to provide paid employment for their participants.

The process of setting up this shredding business is a good example of the local resources available to help with the implementation of a business idea. Initially Opportunity Connections received a grant from OIB, the Oregon Investment Board and that provided the funds for Opportunity Connections to hire Linda Griswold from Griswold Marketing to research the market and come up with a shredding business plan. Griswold worked with Guy Moser, from Columbia Gorge Community College Small Business Development Center, to come up with the business model. Last year Tri-County Hazardous Waste and Recycling awarded Gorge Security Shred a grant for $57,636 that enabled the business to purchase additional machinery, install a high security system and provide for other start-up costs. The purpose of the grant was to assist a business whose operation would reduce resource use, prevent increased landfill material and create jobs.

Rita Rathkey, Executive Director of Opportunity Connect...

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...ent of Environmental Quality, for earned recycling points.

The destruction of the material takes place within three business days of pick-up. All shredded material is compacted into 1,000-pound bales and 100% recycled through a Washington pulp mill and made into other paper products. Gorge Security Shred encourages businesses to shred only what is confidential. Recycled whole sheets of paper retain their longer fibers and can be reprocessed into higher quality paper products. A Certificate of Destruction is issued, confirming the destruction of the material and is mailed back to the client along with an invoice.

For the month of April, Gorge Security Shred will have processed over 8.5 tons of documents. Now that is “shredding the Gorge”! For more information about the company, look them up on the web at www.gorgesecurityshred.com or call 541-490-7078

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