WICKER PARK — Well, this might be a first: A free paper shredding event drew such a huge response that the Shred-It truck driver had to turn people away on Saturday.
The "Community Shredding and e-Recycling Day," a two-hour event from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, closed down about 20 minutes early.
"This has never happened before. It's the biggest shredding event I've ever worked and we did not expect it to be so crowded. The November event is historically slower," said Avil Claytor, an intern with the Special Service Area Taxpayer District No. 33, which sponsors the bimonthly event.
Claytor said 109 people had successfully gotten their documents shredded. But at least another 15, including a DNAinfo reporter, were turned away as an apologetic truck driver explained that the back of the truck was "bulging" and the shredder in the truck could not shred any more papers onsite.
Among those who were were not able to get their papers shredded was Molly Murray, a Ukrainian Village resident who was holding a large garbage bag stuffed with papers from her deceased father's estate.
"I lugged them from suburbs. I'll put them back in my trunk," said Murray, who declined to use an emergency bin that the Shred-It driver offered up with a promise to shred whatever was in the bin offsite after the event.
Held five times yearly, the next free shredding opportunity will not be until mid-March. Started in 2009, the event was previously held in the K-Mart parking lot but was moved to A.N. Pritzker School's parking lot at 2020 W. Evergreen St. over the summer.
Shredded paper in the back of the Shred-It truck, reaching the truckbed's ceiling. [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]
102 "steno" reporter notebooks, about three year's worth captured before being destroyed.
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