Shredding event sets recycling record

Mother Nature’s soggy wrath, a monumental first-of-its-kind celebration, and an airshow could not keep more than 600 drivers from recycling their private documents and electronics in Corpus Christi. The AARP Shred Day event was held at KIII-TV (an ABC affiliate) Saturday, April 18 and it set a new record.

The event was highly publicized online and during KIII-3 newscasts, and people were listening. In fact, the shredding was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., but it started 40-minutes earlier because of the possibility of severe thunderstorms. That schedule change proved to be a great decision because people began lining up outside the TV station at 6 a.m. to drop off items to be shredded or crushed.

The steady stream of vehicles kept Associate State Director of Advocacy and Outreach Veronica de Lafuente and various AARP volunteers busy. When the morning event was done AARP saw 33,000 lbs. of paper shredded and 4,000 lbs. of electronics such as TV's, computers and hard drives crushed on site. Those statistics set an AARP Corpus Christi shredding record. Not bad considering the event was competing with the threat of severe weather, The Blue Angels Air Show, and an event honoring the late Queen of Tejano Music Selena. About 40,000 people were predicted to go to that event.

AARPTexas' job in Corpus Christi continues with another Shred Day event scheduled for October 18, 2015.

Shred Day is part of AARP’s effort to protect people from fraud and identity theft. To learn more about what you can do to safeguard your identity go to aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork .