Tax and purge. If doing taxes has produced a pile of sensitive documents too "taxing" for a home shredder, try one of the free events going on now or coming up in May.
Office Depot/Office Max is offering an online coupon to get up to 2 pounds of paper shredded free through April 25 in stores. Two pounds is about one-third of a grocery sack.
Several local companies offer freebie shredding:
Pioneer Secure Shred (155 Irving Av. N., Minneapolis, 612-381-2199) offers free shredding of up to 25 boxes of paper (banker's box sized) on the first Friday of every month (May - Oct) from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. The next free shredding event will be May 1. If you can't wait until then, you can pay Pioneer. A banker's box of paper costs $3 each with a $25 minimum. In other words, you can bring up to 8 banker's boxes of paper to shred for $25.
Shred Right (651-621-1862) will offer free shredding events (up to 3 banker's boxes or grocery sacks) open to the public from 9 a.m. - noon on Sat. May 16 at the following U.S. Federal Credit Union locations:
2772 East 82nd Street, Bloomington, 55425
1400 Riverwood Drive, Burnsville, 55337
6303 Central Ave NE, Fridley, 55432
7644 160th Street, Lakeville, 55044
4290 Dean Lakes Blvd, Shakopee, 55379
Shred Right will also be at the following locations in May:
Roseville: Community Resource Bank, 1501 W. County Rd. C from 9 a.m. to noon Sat. May 2
Stillwater: Lily Lake Ice Arena, 1208 S. Greeley St., 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat. May 16
Call 651-621-1862 for additional events in May in Kenyon, Victoria, Owatonna, and Northfield, Minn.
If you have more than three bags to shred, try Shred Right's St. Paul location (862 Hersey St.) year round. They will shred up to eight boxes for $25 plus $3 per box after eight from 8:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays (no dropoffs between 11-11:30 a.m.). It will also shred electronic media (CDs, tapes) for 32 cents per pound and cellphones and hard drives (removed from computer) for $5 each.
