On a sunny cold morning in Evergreen, a white Shred Pro truck parked at the south end of the Albertsons parking lot drew a steady stream of visitors.Evergreen Rotary Club members took turns during the four-hour eventset up forpeople to unload sensitive documents and have them shredded.

Vicki Renfrow brought a dozen banker's boxes filled with company documents. "I just heard about this from a friend," she said as she emptied the contents of close to a dozen boxes into a special trash can. "This is wonderful," she said. Renfrow said she was getting rid of 13,000 work orders from her business. "Sometimes I wonder what restaurants do with my credit card receipts."

Evergreen resident Gene Wycoff stood nearby. He is a member of Evergreen Rotary, which sponsored the mobile shredding event Dec. 9. "This is designed to promote awareness of identity theft and encourage everyone to recycle," he said.

As a member of the environmental committee for the Rotary Club, he added, "This is a trial run. We're looking for sponsors to host something like this again." Wycoff said the purpose was for businesses to get rid of stuff they stockpile, and for individuals to dispose of documents they no longer need. Wycoff said Shred Pro was donating the time, which would normally cost $100 per hour.

Paul Collings, another Rotary member, arrived to take a shift and said he moved here from Minnesota. In comparison to Colorado, he said, "You can recycle more in MInnesota than here, I understand it's because the state government isn't behind it."

Jake Overdiek, general manager of Shred Pro met people at their vehicles with a garbage can designed to ride a conveyor belt and automatically dump its contents into the truck. He said close to 20 people were waiting at 10 a.m. when he arrived. The business has been operational for six years, according to Overdiek. "The truck can hold 10 to 12,000 pounds and it's holding close to 9,000 pounds now." Overdiek said the shredded paper is taken to a local recycling center and made into secondary paper products, such as napkins and paper plates. At the end of the session, 53 people showed up to contribute their documents.

Wycoff was quick to point out the dominant figure in the recycling movement in Evergreen is Mereth Mead, also a Rotary Club member. She has been a recycling activist in Evergreen since 1999, when Martha Mott founded Mountain Recyclers, a grass-roots movement that encouraged residents to conserve, re-use and recycle.

Since then the movement has grown and now includes a bustling recycling center behind King Soopers at 1173 Bergen Parkway in North Evergreen.

According to Mead, Chilo Domingues has been in charge of the center since 1999, even though the ownership has changed from Tri-R, to Waste Management, a nationwide trash business. Mead said, "What's important for people to realize is that this is free!"

According to Aspen Park resident and owner of Mountain Books in Conifer, Jesse McKean, "Everybody here tells me they go to the Bergen Park center to recycle."

For information on Waste Management, call 303-399-6351 Ext. 160 or visit
www.wm.com/

The site in Evergreen includes a building and several dumpster bins. The center is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays

"The volume keeps increasing steadily. It works very well because Domingues does such a good job," Mead added. "People can bring everything except styrofoam or plastic bags. The center takes cardboard and compresses it on the spot. They take all colors of glass, phonebooks, paper of all kinds, plastic bottles, aluminum, metal, old pieces of rebar. They take clean foil, toner cartridges and cell phones. The cell phones are donated or recycled to raise funds for Mt. Evans Hospice," said Mead.

Mead said her energy now is focused on the Rotary Club's interest in encouraging Evergreen High School students with their Environmental Club, which was started by EHS student Catie Engelhart.

Mead's enthusiasm for the recycling movement is unmistakable when she talks about the concept of Zero Waste, which was a presentation made at the Rotary Club recently by Eric Lombardi, executive director of Eco-Cycle in Boulder. "Zero waste is practiced in Europe," said Mead. "It involves getting manufacturers to take back what they made when it's worn out so they are more responsible for what they put into it. It becomes an incentive, so they can re-use what they put into the product. It's a fantastic concept."

Shred Pro can be reached at 303-344-2323 or at www.shredpro.com

Evergreen Rotary Club www.evergreenrotary.orgmeets weekly on Fridays at 7 a.m. at El Rancho Restaurant in Golden at 9260 U S 40. Call 303-526-0661 for more information.

To read about the the United Methodist Church recycling fundraiser in Golden, go to, denver.yourhub.com/EVERGREEN/Stories/News/General-News

Recyclables accepted at the Evergreen Recycle Center
Aluminum cans
Clean aluminum foil and containers
Other metal cans and small scrap
Newspapers and magazines
Junk mail
Cardboard, all kinds
Shredded paper
White and colored paper
Brown (amber) glass bottles and jars
White, gree, blue glass bottles and jars
Phone books
Plastic Bottles with necks
Cell p hones
Computer and copier toner cartridges
For information about other recyclables call 303-674-7001