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Local Recycling Firm Turns to New Business
Unit Certified to Dice Documents
by Mary-Beth McLaughlin, Blade Business Writer
After 64 years of recycling everything from newspaper
to metal, it was only natural that customers turned to State Paper & Metal Co.,
Inc, when they needed help shredding sensitive documents. The requests were so frequent
that the Toledo company's owners decided recently to launch AccuShred, a division
dedicated solely to the destruction of sensitive documents, such as health-care information,
and business-related paperwork.
They have renovated a nearby building, secured it with locks and video cameras, and
been certified by the National Association for Information Destruction. "Recycling
commodities has always been a roller coaster ride," said Nate Segall, vice president
of the family-owned business at 1118 W. Central Ave. "This is a recession-proof
business, and it's going to help smooth out the highs and lows."
Jody Schmit, operations manager for the national trade group, said companies want
to be certified to show clients they are committed to secure shredding."There
is a greater awareness from the public about personal identity theft, so insurance
companies and banks, etc. need to make sure they're not casually discarding private
documents," she said.
Mr. Segall and President Barry Gudelman said the company should grow slowly. "We
hope to be doing this for years," said Mr. Gudelman, son of the company's chairman,
Norman Gudelman. Mr. Gudelman's great uncle, Morris Goodelman, started the company
in 1939. He handled scrap paper, iron and other metal, and rags in the company's
original location on Woodruff Avenue near Cherry Street. The company was then called
State Iron and Metal Co.
Norman Gudelman emigrated to the United States from Israel and joined his uncle in
the company in 1958. Three years later, he and the late Ralph Worshtil bought the
company and moved it to the present location on Central Avenue.
Mr. Segall and Barry Gudelman said the company has gone through a number of transformations,
recycling the hot items during each time period, including paper, rags, wastepaper,
and such nonferrous metals as copper, brass, and aluminum. Business is a mix of drive-up
customers unloading their pop cans to industrial and commercial firms that hire State
Paper to haul away tons of office waste. The company has 21 trailers, three semis,
and three other trucks. It picks up material as far south as Findlay and as far north
as Detroit.
The business has 15 employees and expects to have revenues this year of $1.75 million,
but the principals are hopeful those numbers will increase. Prices in the industry
have been very depressed for two years, but AccuShred has been busy in its short
existence, Mr. Segall and Mr. Gudelman said. "It's tough because we don't get
to set the price of our widgets," Mr. Segall said. The executives said their
timing is good, because of new patient privacy requirements for medical records included
in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
AccuShred's new location has closed-circuit video monitoring of all shredding, as
well as a 90-day library so that companies know their paperwork has been destroyed.
All employees must undergo background checks and drug tests to make sure there are
no felons handling the documents.
The convenience of dealing with one company with separate divisions for recycling
and document destruction is appealing to Chris Finnegan, production manager of Expressbill,
Inc, a Toledo statement-processing company. It uses State Paper & Metal to recycle
white ledger and cardboard and AccuShred to destroy documents.
"I like that I can always get ahold of Barry or Nate and they get things done
for me," Mr. Finnegan said. "I don't have to deal with any red tape or
go through three or four people before I get to the right person. And their pricing
is pretty competitive."
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