For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 5, 2025
The Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will celebrate America Recycles Day with a paper shredding and recycling event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15. The event will be held at Montgomery College, Rockville – Lot 13, located at the corner of Mannakee St. and Hungerford Dr. (Rte. 355).
The community drop-off event provides residents with a secure and environmentally responsible way to dispose of sensitive paper documents. The event will end at 2 p.m. or when the shredding trucks are full, whichever comes first.
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“Secure shredding shouldn’t be a luxury or a hassle,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “People deserve a simple and responsible way to dispose of personal documents, and this event helps make that possible. I’m glad to see us bringing back a service that residents have been asking for since the pandemic. It protects privacy, keeps paper out of the trash stream and supports our work to reduce waste across the County. I encourage everyone to take advantage of it.”
On-site confidential paper shredding and recycling guidelines:
- Residents may bring up to five small boxes or paper bags of documents. No business documents will be collected.
- Paper can include financial and legal documents, receipts, and tax and medical records.
- Please remove paper from three-ring binders and spiral notebooks.
- Acceptable items include office paper, envelopes, file folders, mail, and similar paper products.
- Paper clips and staples do not need to be removed. Please remove binder clips and rubber bands.
- No plastic or electronic items, such as credit cards, CDs, or computer disks, will be accepted.
- Residents only. No businesses, please.
“We haven’t held this kind of event since before COVID closures in 2020, and we’re so happy to offer this service to the community once again,” said DEP Acting Director, Jeff Seltzer. ”It’s a great opportunity for residents to protect their personal information while supporting our County’s zero waste goals.”
Participants should remain in their vehicles while staff and volunteers unload the documents. Materials will be securely destroyed on-site using mobile shredding trucks from Clean Cut Shredding, a professional document destruction company based in Rockville.
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For safety and traffic flow, participants will not be permitted to watch the shredding process. After shredding, the paper is baled and sent for recycling.
The event will be canceled in the event of inclement weather. For more information, contact the Montgomery County Waste Reduction and Recycling Section by calling 3-1-1 or visit the website at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DEP/trash-recycling/programs/.