Shred Your Personal Documents for Free on April 26

Duke’s Office of Audit Risk and Compliance hosts shredding event at Duke Human Resources offices

Shredded paper

Protect your identity and clean out some of your clutter with a free document shredding event from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. – or until the truck is full – on Friday, April 26.

The shredding event will take place in the parking lot of the Duke Human Resources offices at 705 Broad St., near Duke’s East Campus. There is free visitor parking available.

The event, which is organized by the Duke Office of Audit Risk and Compliance, is free and open to any individual looking to securely dispose of personal documents. Documents from businesses or any offices of Duke schools, departments or units are not eligible.

“The reason for these events, from a privacy perspective, is to reduce the risk of identity theft” said Diane Padgett, Principal Auditor with the Office of Audit, Risk and Compliance. “Shredding or destroying documents containing personal information is a vital step in avoiding identity theft by preventing these materials from getting into the wrong hands.”

Consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC also received over one million reports of identity theft through its website during the same period. The FTC recommends shredding credit card and utility bills as soon as they’re paid and shredding bank statements, pay stubs and settled medical bills after one year.

“We’re almost finished with tax time, so many of us will have gone through our records and may have items that are no longer needed, so this would be a perfect opportunity to shred those items,” Padgett said.

No registration is required. Individuals can bring up to three boxes or shopping bags of documents to be shredded by the document disposal company Shred-it. Paper documents, envelopes, staples, paper clips and expired credit cards are all able to be shredded. Binder clips and thick plastic document holders must be removed before shredding.

“As an institution, we have obligations to protect the information of our students, our employees, and our customers” Padgett said. “We feel like this is a continuation of that responsibility and a way to promote the idea of personal data privacy protections throughout the community.”

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