Tired of the peaks-and-valleys of the real estate sales market, Teeven launched his own mobile, secure, document-shredding service—Document Security Management (DSM)—five years ago. Since then, his company’s revenues have climbed 25 percent each year. Among the documents shredded by DSM for its 200-plus clients are direct mail, bank statements, personal medical information, outdated tax records, closed legal files, credit card payment stubs and more.

A large chunk of his business is combating dumpster espionage—stealing discarded information for sales leads and items to bid. It's become a growing threat to businesses, ever since the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that an American’s right to privacy vanishes once personal paper hits the pavement.

Teeven challenged the prediction that we would be living in a “paperless society” as the U.S. heads toward the new millennium. In the late ’90s, Teeven explains, the proliferation of computers, faxes and copiers are generating more paper information than ever before.

“When I first looked into the business, a lot of people told me the amount of paper in the business world would be reduced,” recalls Teeven. “I didn’t see it that way. Businesses are creating more and more records and the demand for and reception of our company have been overwhelming.”

In today’s increasingly competitive business market, a larger number of companies have implemented a comprehensive records retention system, explains Teeven. Yet, in three, five or seven years, the material becomes outdated. That's when Teeven and his customized shredding trucks pay a visit.

Now using three International 35-foot box trucks—valued at $140,000 to $180,000 each—DSM’s high-volume shredders can process up to 1,000 pounds of paper an hour, versus 25 to 40 pounds for a typical office shredder. DSM personnel will walk record cartons and files out of a client’s office to the truck at curbside or they will deliver large, locked bins to clients. The confidential trash is inserted through a mail-chute-size slot on top. Once it drops into the bin, it’s gone.

All materials are shredded in the truck at the place of business to ensure the highest control of security. The disposable documents are shredded into confetti-style wisps of paper, ranging in size from a nickel to a quarter. The shredded paper is then recycled at paper mills in Pennsylvania and Delaware and, eventually, is fashioned into toilet paper, tissue paper, napkins and chipboard.

The document-shredding industry first sprang up in Toronto 15 years ago. Today, DSM handles from five to 20 clients a day from Allentown, Pa., to Baltimore with about 65 percent of its work in northern Delaware. A client is charged, on average, $2.50 per minute, or $150 an hour. In July, DSM acquired the Wilmington-based Mobile Data Shred firm and its 25 clients.

Though many clients may have previously invested $5,000 to $10,000 in their own shredding machines, they find DSM more cost-effective. Additionally, some companies feel they can't trust employees not to scan sensitive material.

“When they looked at the operating and maintenance costs of running their equipment, plus employee time, we looked much better,” says Teeven. “Some of their employees were spending a lot of time shredding when they could be doing something a lot more productive. We work with them to design a program, plan out our pick-ups and offer a cost-efficient operation.”

Teeven’s largest job thus far was a three-day marathon shredding of more than 15 tons of documents for the Australian embassy in Washington, D.C.

Y2K may eventually prove profitable, Teeven says. “There’s been a lot of hard copy developed and now it is in storage. Once companies’ computer systems pass clearance, those materials will be released for secure disposal. I’m sure we'll get a lot of calls.”