Senior Shredding Program

For the past 5 years, The Columbia County KISS Program has been offering seniors the opportunity to

shred their sensitive documents free of charge by dropping their documents off at their local town halls.

The KISS Program will once again become available to seniors in every participating town in Columbia

County from June 10, 2019 through June 28, 2019.

The KISS Program, founded by Columbia County

Clerk Holly Tanner, stands for Keeping the Identities of Seniors Safe. It was designed to protect the

identities of our seniors while assisting them in the shredding of their sensitive materials. Much of what

we toss in the trash should actually be shredded for our own safety. Again, this is a completely free

program in which seniors are able to dispose of their sensitive documents they no longer need,

discretely and securely at zero cost to them and zero cost to county taxpayers.

Seniors can bring their

sensitive materials (old credit card receipts, bank statements, tax records..etc) to their local Town Hall

and place them in a locked 64 gallon container. The container is kept secure until Certified Document

Security removes the container and brings it to their facility in New Lebanon for shredding.

This

program is available quarterly and has just wrapped up its 1st quarter of 2019, which ran from March

18, 2019-March 29, 2019 and saw seniors shred 4,237 pounds of paper!

Since the program’s inception in 2013, the program has grown from 2 towns participating to all 18

towns in the County participating, including the City of Hudson. The amount of paper that has been

shredded through the program has grown leaps and bounds as well. In 2013, 300 total pounds of paper

was shredded through the program. Just in 2018’s 4 th quarter run alone, seniors disposed of 2,403

pounds of paper, bringing the total pounds of paper shredded in 2018 up to 13,600 pounds of paper

that would have otherwise been lingering around, causing clutter, and compromising the security and

identity of the senior. A total of 44,493 pounds (20+ tons) of paper has been shredded since the

program’s inception and that figure continues to grow.

For the second year in a row, the KISS Program joined forces with the Village of Kinderhook’s Climate

Smart Community Task Force on April 20th for a special Earth Day event which saw a record 1,479

pounds of paper collected for shredding in one day! Last year’s event saw 1,075 pounds of paper

shredded. The KISS Program was not only designed to take care of our seniors, but it was also designed

to take care of our planet. All shredded materials are recycled and turned into paper products.

Seniors are encouraged to contact their local Town Hall for hours of operation and more information on

the program.

Future dates for the KISS Program will be in June, September, and December. Justin

Weaver, Columbia County Clerk’s Records Services Manager, is overseeing the program and can also be

contacted with any questions at 518-822-0143.


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