By Lookout Staff

July 21, 2011 – If you've been watching your piles of sensitive but outdated documents pile up in your garage, along with obsolete electronics, this Saturday is your chance to do something about it.

That's because the City's Resource Recovery and Recycling Division is hosting a free shredding and E-waste recycling day for Santa Monica residents at the City yards from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

If you just throw documents that have your personal and financial information on them in the trash, you're opening the door to identity theft.

But if you have them shredded, not only will you protect yourself, you'll also be helping the environment.

That's because the trained, licensed and bonded document destruction company that the City has contracted with will recycle the shredded documents into new paper products.

Recycling shredded documents frees up landfill space, reduces the need for new lumber and saves the energy and water needed to process new lumber.

Bottom line, you'll be safer and so will the environment.

At the same time you cart your documents down to the City Yards, you can also throw any unwanted, broken TV's, computers or other electronic debris in the trunk of your car.

The City will accept them for recycling, protecting the landfill from the hazardous materials they contain.

After any drives have been wiped clean, the E-waste will be disassembled locally and recycled, City staff say.

All told, the City diverts 70 per cent of Santa Monica's waste from the landfill through its recycling programs.

The free (to residents) Shredding and E-Waste Recycling Day will be held at the City Yards at 2500 Michigan Avenue in Santa Monica on Saturday, July 23 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.