MORGANTOWN — Earlier this month, Gov. Jim Justice announced PACE Enterprises would receive almost $60,000 in grant money.
The grant comes from a $1 per pound tax on waste dropped off at in-state landfills, according to a press release by the governor’s office.
Director of Development at PACE Bob Pirner said PACE’s shredding program encourages people to recycle confidential documents, rather than shredding and sending them to a landfill.
PACE gives a business enough containers to meet its needs and schedules regular pick-up times to empty the containers. The papers are then shredded, baled and sent to a pulp mill. Pirner said each bale weighs about 1,700 pounds, and roughly a tractor-trailer worth of bales is taken to the pulp mill each week. Those bales are then turned into recycled paper by the mill, he said.
“That’s a lot of paper not going to the landfill,” Pirner said.
“It would be worth the services and price I pay if it was any other business,” Doreen Seamon, owner of Seamon Law, said.
The containers are free and customers pay for each pick-up, Pirner explained.
Seamon said she’s used the shredding service for several years and knowing PACE provides jobs for disabled people is an added benefit.
Pirner said over 75 percent of the workers in PACE’s shredding service have a significant disability. He said the shredding service started small in 2010 and has slowly grown over time. Pirner said about 1,300 businesses use the service.
The $59,400 PACE received will be spent on additional containers, pay workers and fuels for trucks, Pirner said.
Before using PACE, which uses nine trucks to travel all across West Virginia, Seamon said her office used personal shredders.
“The shred pile would always get big and out of control,” she said.
Now the paper is dropped into the locked containers, which protects clients’ confidential information. Seamon is the only person with a key to the container, making it safe and secure, she said.
Ultimately, those who use the service get to help the environment and help provide jobs for people with disabilities, Pirner said.
“It’s a small way in which a company can contribute to the greater wellbeing of our state and our region,” he said.
Those interested in more information or who wish to sign up can call 304-938-722.
Twitter @WillDean_DP
WDean@DominionPost.com
