Industry News

SecurShred Receives Loan to Fund Expansion

The Vermont Economic Development Authority’s (VEDA) board of directors has approved $8.5 million in financing assistance for small businesses in the state, and a local document destruction company is among the companies receiving financing.

SecurShred, a mobile shredding firm in South Burlington, Vt., has been approved for a $306,000 loan that will allow the document destruction company to buy a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in South Burlington. According to SecurShred, the $850,000 project will increase its capacity and efficiency in destroying paper and electronic media for companies throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

Eric Flegenheimer, SecurShred president, says the company is scheduled to relocate by February.

The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) has announced key presenters for its 2007 Annual Conference, which is schedule for April 11-13 in Kissimmee, Fla.

The event features two keynote speakers: Consultant and writer on the subject of business growth Steven S. Little presents the keynote address titled "The Seven Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth" Thursday, April 11, while brand marketing strategist Larry Gulko presents the Friday keynote address titled "Seven Powerful Strategies to Become a Best-Selling Brand in Your Market."

Scott Horne, general counsel for the Institute of Scrap Industries Inc. (ISRI), addresses "The Responsibilities and Rights of Buyers and Sellers of Scrap Materials."

Additionally, Darren Arola, global director of product development and sales for MBA Polymers, an innovative plastics recycling company based in Richmond, Calif., details trends in the recycling of plastics from electronic components in a session titled "Latest Advances and Trends in Marketing e-Scrap."

The focus on electronics continues with Robert Tonnetti of the U.S. EPA, who speaks about environmental regulations affecting electronics recycling.

Ray Barry of Total Training Services (and an SDB columnist) joins NAID Executive Director Bob Johnson for an improvisational sales training session titled "A 4 Act Play – The One Meeting Close and Other Sales Challenges."

More information on the 2007 Annual NAID Conference is available at www.naidonline.org.

Proshred Security, based in Toronto, has opened a Philadelphia-area office to provide mobile shredding services in the city and 16 surrounding communities.

Virginia Heron and Jim Doerr own and operate the new office.

Proshred has been in the shredding business for nearly 20 years and claims to be the first mobile operation to acheive ISO 9001 standards.

Shred Nations, based in Denver, has announced the addition of the 500th secure shredding facility to its network of local secure document destruction companies throughout North America. The company says its service area now covers all 50 states and every territory in Canada.

"Our reach keeps growing, and adding our 500th facility is just another indication of the level of service we can provide our clients in North America," John MacAdams, general manager of Shred Nations, says. "It would be hard to find a place we don’t offer shredding services," he adds.

According to the company, its www.ShredNations.com Web site is designed to handle virtually any shredding service request, from one box of sensitive documents to a purge job consisting of 1,000 boxes.

"We get hundreds of visitors a day," MacAdams says of Shred Nation’s Web site. "Our job is to help educate consumers and match them with the right shredding solution for them."

Users of the site fill out a form requesting a quote for their particular job. The actual shredding is done through a network of local contractors that have been pre-screened by Shred Nations. "Our members demonstrate security procedures exceeding the industry standards," MacAdams says.

Shred Nations is a trademark of DataGuardUSA, Denver.

Crown Shredding LLC, Winter Haven, Fla., has purchased DataShredders LLC, Daytona Beach, Fla.

Jay Burns, Crown Shredding’s president, says the acquisition will help expand the company’s presence in the Florida market. "We are very pleased with DataShredders’ customer base and we are looking forward to serving them," he adds.

This is Crown Shredding’s first acquisition, completed with the help of North Shore Capital Advisors.

Burns began Crown Shredding in 2003 out of his parents’ home.

PHS Datashred has announced that it has become one of the first British shredding companies to achieve the new security shredding standard BS8470, launched in June of 2006.

The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) was instrumental in introducing the standard, which covers a range of management processes and security features, including premises security, staff vetting, collection-vehicle specification and shred sizes.

In addition to the move, SecurShred is looking to add a baler to the new building. The company also expects to buy another shredding truck in 2007, giving it a fleet of five mobile shredding trucks.