Ken Lassiter, president of the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations, had at least two friends throw away credit card courtesy checks, only to have them used by identity thieves.
With that in mind, COBWRA is having an onsite shredder free to the public at the group’s latest security committee meeting, usually the last Wednesday of the month.
MicroShred, a Miami shredding company, will come out from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 29 to the District 6 Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office Station, 7894 S Jog Road.
“This is an especially pertinent time to shred unwanted documents with tax season just coming to a close,” Lassiter said.
Lassiter said he had multiple friends throw away and not shred the credit cards checks that come with statements. A few months later, his friends saw the checks were cashed or used in other areas by what had to be trash thieves.
Orly Ciechanowiecki, spokeswoman for MicroShred, said the thieves are called Dumpster divers.
“With the market the way it is and the economy struggling, people are more inclined now than ever to turn to crimes like identity theft,” she said.
She said the thieves sift through people’s trash and look for items with personal information on them including checks and credit card applications.
She made it clear that Micro Shred does not recommend what to shred because the company does not know what is important for people to keep and get rid of.
The company does recommend that if residents are already throwing documents away with personal information on them, that they should be shredded.
The onsite trucks that will be shredding at the PBSO office can shred up to 6,000 pounds of paper an hour.
If items such as utility and other household bills, credit card receipts, paycheck stubs and bank records are already going into the trash, they can be shredded at the event.
Some paperwork that is recommended to keep in a file includes credit card statements and tax records, other financial paperwork, such as IRA, retirement statements and house deeds.
Lassiter said in addition to the document shredding, proper disposal of prescription drugs would also take place at the event.
“Just don’t bring something that would get you in trouble,” he joked.

Mike Rothman can be reached at mkrothman@tribune.com.