Peoples Bank ShredFest ’08 collects 2,312 pounds

Matt Ayers, with Cintas in Olathe, operates the company’s Mobile Shredding Unit during Peoples’ ShredFest 2008 on Saturday morning in the bank’s parking lot. Forty-five people brought in old documents to be shredded. (Doug Carder / dcarder@miconews.com)

Peoples Bank President Mike Windholz helped Matt Ayers, with Cintas in Olathe, dump old documents into a container for shredding as rain drops began to fall Saturday morning.

The periodic showers did not deter 45 residents from bringing piles of documents to be shredded on site by Cintas’ Mobile Shredding Unit, which was set up in the parking lot behind Peoples on Broadway Street.

Peoples employees helped Ayers shred 2,312 pounds of old documents during ShredFest 2008.

Once the shredded documents are returned to the Cintas plant, they are reshredded again and then shipped to a manufacturer who turns the recycled paper into Bounty paper towels.

Peoples employees also were handing out reusable “Earth” bags to promote the event’s green theme, Windholz said.

In addition to recycling paper, the ShredFest event was designed to help prevent identity theft by encouraging residents to shred their old bank statements and other documents.

“We were so pleased with how it went that we are thinking about turning it into an annual event,” Windholz said.