Updated November 2026 · Exeter, New Hampshire
Document shredding Exeter NH: what it costs, and the quickest way to get it done
Exeter’s curbside recycling will not take shredded paper, so your old files need another way out. Here are the three ways we handle Exeter paper, priced box by box, with the drive times by each route to our Tewksbury office.
99¢ per pound at our Tewksbury drop-off. Exeter pickups are Zone 3. Certificate of Destruction on every job.
- 99¢ per pound
- Since 2007
- BBB A+
- HIPAA BAA on request
Quick answer
New Hampshire Document Shredding shreds Exeter paper at its office at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA, about 36 to 46 miles and roughly an hour away depending on the route. Drop-off costs 99 cents per pound under 10 boxes, or $20 per large box at 10 or more, plus $34.90 per job, so one 30 pound box is about $64.60. A Zone 3 pickup from Exeter adds $199.95, which makes sense for 10 boxes or more, not for one or two.
Exeter’s shredding options at a glance
Start with the facts that do not change. We shred at one place, our office on Route 38 in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. Nothing gets shredded in a truck on Front Street, and we have no drop box in town. Every job, from one shoebox of receipts to a law office’s back room, ends at the same counter with the same cross-cut shredder and a Certificate of Destruction.
That leaves three ways to get your document shredding done from Exeter. The table puts them side by side. Read the “best for” column first, because that is where most people find their answer.
| Service | How it works | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drop-off | Walk in Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Shredded the same business day. | 99¢ per pound under 10 boxes, $15 small or $20 large box at 10+, plus $34.90 per job | Households and small offices with under 10 boxes and a weekday free |
| Pickup (off-site) | By appointment. We collect sealed boxes in Exeter and shred them in Tewksbury after they arrive. | Same rates, plus $199.95 Zone 3 transport, plus $34.90 per job | Office purges, practices, estates with a garage full of files |
| Witnessed | By appointment at our office. You watch every box go in. | $1.99 per pound, $100 minimum, plus $34.90 per job | Closed legal matters, HR files, trusts, anyone who wants to see it |
The detail behind each line lives on its own page. Our drop-off shredding page explains the counter visit, and the off-site shredding page covers pickups across New Hampshire. If you are torn between the two, our drop-off vs off-site guide lays out the trade-offs.
Why Exeter’s recycling bin is the wrong place for old files
Exeter’s single-stream curbside program, run by Waste Management for the town, takes mail, office paper, newspaper and cardboard. It does not take shredded paper. The town’s recycling page lists “shredded paper” in the same not-accepted list as plastic bags, mirrors and light bulbs. Shred a box at home and the strips are not recycling. They are trash.
That matters in Exeter more than in most towns, because trash here is pay-as-you-throw. Household trash goes out in Town of Exeter blue bags, $2.50 for a 33 gallon bag or $1.25 for a 15 gallon bag, curbside by 7 a.m. on your pickup day. Every bag of home shred you throw out is a bag you paid for.
The other half of the problem is the whole sheets you do put in the recycling container. A bank statement in a curbside tote rides on an open truck and through a sorting line with your account number still readable. For junk mail that is fine. For an old tax return, a pay stub or a medical bill, it is a gift to anyone who goes looking.
At our counter, paper you bring in whole is shredded and then baled and recycled. The privacy problem and the recycling problem are solved in the same step, and your blue bags stay for kitchen trash.
Burning is not the answer either. A backyard fire leaves half-charred pages that blow across the yard, and it does nothing for the stack you never get around to. Our post on burning your old documents covers why.
A quick rule for Exeter homes: junk mail and catalogs go in the blue recycling container whole. Anything with a Social Security number, account number, signature, medical detail or date of birth goes in a box for us. Home-shredded strips go in a blue bag, not the recycling.
Three ways to drive from Exeter to Tewksbury
Exeter is the one Seacoast town with a real choice of roads to our door. From the town offices at 10 Front Street, a route planner offers three, and they trade miles against highway driving. None of them is a quick hop, so treat the drive as a planned weekday errand, not a lunch-break trip.
| Route from downtown Exeter | Distance | Route planner time | Why pick it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Route 108 south, Route 150 through Kensington into Amesbury, then I-495 south | About 38 miles | About 58 minutes | Usually the quickest. Back roads first, then highway the rest of the way |
| Route 111 west to Kingston, Route 125 south toward Plaistow, then I-495 south | About 36 miles | About 62 minutes | Shortest. Handy if you live on the west side of town toward Cross Road |
| Route 101 east to I-95 south, then I-495 south | About 46 miles | About 69 minutes | Longest, but almost all divided highway. Easier with a loaded car in bad weather |
All three end the same way. Stay on I-495 south past Lawrence and Andover into Tewksbury, then follow Route 38, Main Street, to number 1215. Some navigation apps take you off at Route 133 and down North Street to reach Main Street, which works just as well. Parking is free right outside Unit 115, and staff come out to help with heavy boxes.
Pack the car the night before. Banker’s boxes slide around on the turns of Route 150 and Route 125, so stack them flat in the trunk or on the floor behind the seats rather than piled on a seat. Keep a list of anything you want noted on the certificate, such as a client name or the years being destroyed, in the glove box.
Planner times assume ordinary traffic. Rush hour on I-495 near Lawrence can add a lot, and our counter does not open until 10 a.m. A departure around 9 a.m. or after lunch tends to be the sweet spot. We close at 5 p.m. and there are no Saturday hours, so check the clock before you set off.
What Exeter customers pay, box by box
Prices are the same whether you live on Jady Hill or work on Industrial Drive. Under 10 boxes we weigh the paper and charge 99 cents a pound. A standard banker’s box of paper weighs about 30 pounds, so a box comes to roughly $29.70 before fees. At 10 boxes or more the price switches to a flat $15 per small box or $20 per large box. Every job then adds the $34.90 per-job fees: $14.95 for the HIPAA filing behind your Certificate of Destruction and $19.95 for recycling the shred.
The tenth box
Here is a quirk of the price list worth knowing. Nine full banker’s boxes, at about 30 pounds each, are billed by the pound: about 270 pounds, or $267.30, plus fees. Ten large boxes switch to the flat rate, $200, plus fees. If you are sitting on nine boxes of genuinely heavy paper and have a tenth half-filled in the closet, finish it. Light boxes are different, so if yours are mostly folders and air, the pound rate may still win. We will tell you at the counter which way your load comes out cheaper.
For an office, the pickup math looks like this. Ten large boxes cost $200 to shred, plus $34.90 in fees, plus $199.95 to collect them from Exeter: $434.85 in all. Twenty large boxes come to $634.85. If the boxes sit in a basement or up a flight of stairs, a handling fee applies, and we quote it before the day so the invoice holds no surprises. Ground-floor or elevator access keeps it at the standard price.
Stairs, witnessed sessions and every other number are on our full shredding rates page. Our shredding cost guide also compares paying us with buying and running a home shredder.
Who in Exeter uses which service
Exeter is a small town with a large professional footprint for its size: a historic downtown full of offices, a well-known private academy, a train station and a strip of businesses out on Industrial Drive. The right service depends far more on how many boxes you have than on what you do for a living. Still, some patterns hold.
Downtown offices
Accountants, attorneys, insurance agents and financial planners around Front and Water Streets tend to purge once a year. Most have more than 10 boxes by then, which is where a Zone 3 pickup earns its fee. Our page for Exeter offices, practices and schools goes deeper on business routines.
Households
Two to five boxes of old statements, returns and medical bills. Drive them down on a weekday. The residential shredding page has a keep-or-shred list so you do not throw away a deed with the utility bills.
Practices
Dental, therapy and medical offices hold paper that HIPAA protects until it is destroyed. We sign a Business Associate Agreement on request and certify every job. Our medical shredding service page covers retention and pickup.
School and tutoring records
Student records fall under FERPA, 34 CFR Part 99. Teachers, tutors and admissions consultants who keep student files at home should treat them like any other sensitive record. See our school records shredding page.
The witnessed session suits a narrower group, and Exeter has its share of them: trustees, partners closing out a matter, and HR managers with personnel files nobody else should handle. It costs $1.99 per pound with a $100 minimum, plus $34.90, and you watch every page go into the shredder at our office. For 50 pounds that is $134.90, still well under the $284.35 the same 50 pounds would cost picked up from Exeter. Our witnessed shredding page explains how a session runs.
One more group is easy to forget: families settling an estate in one of Exeter’s older homes. Attics in a town settled in 1638 can hold decades of paper. Sort carefully, keep what the estate attorney needs, and only then box the rest. If it runs past 10 boxes, one pickup beats several trips.
What to keep and what to shred before you box it
The cheapest box to shred is the one you never fill with paper you still need. Before you load the car, run your files past the federal retention guidelines. These are general rules from the IRS and federal regulators, not legal advice for your situation, and an attorney or accountant who knows your file should have the last word.
| Record | General guideline | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Tax returns and supporting records | Generally 3 years from filing | IRS, How long should I keep records |
| Returns where income was underreported by more than 25 percent | 6 years | IRS |
| Claims for a bad debt or worthless securities | 7 years | IRS |
| Employment tax records | At least 4 years | IRS |
| Credit reports and tenant screening files you no longer need | Destroy securely when done | FTC Disposal Rule, 16 CFR Part 682 |
Some papers you keep for good: deeds, wills, birth and marriage certificates, military discharge papers and records of what you paid for your house or investments. Those go back in the fireproof box, not the shred box. For a fuller list by record type, our document retention guide covers New Hampshire households and businesses.
Once the keep pile is set aside, everything else goes in closed boxes as it is. You do not need to pull staples or paper clips. A box that is too heavy to lift comfortably is too heavy for the car too, so stop at a weight you can carry.
Booking a pickup from Exeter, step by step
A pickup takes the drive off your plate. It does not change where the shredding happens. We collect in Exeter, drive to Tewksbury, and shred there. Here is the whole process.
- Count and estimate. Count your boxes and note whether they are small or large banker’s boxes. If you have fewer than 10, multiply by about 30 pounds to estimate the weight. That number tells you whether a pickup is worth $199.95.
- Book the date. Use the online form or call (978) 636-0301. Tell us the address, the box count and how the driver gets to them. Pickups are by appointment, never same-day, and the Zone 3 fee is confirmed when you book.
- Prepare the boxes. Leave staples, clips, rubber bands and file folders in. Take out three-ring binder hardware and hanging-folder frames. Put hard drives, discs and USB sticks in a separate bag. Close the boxes.
- Hand them over. The driver loads the sealed boxes at ground level or by elevator and notes the count. Stairs or a tight access path carry a handling fee we quote before the day.
- Shredding in Tewksbury. Your boxes travel locked to our office, are weighed or counted, and are shredded after they arrive.
- Certificate and invoice. You receive your certificate of destruction with the job details. File it with your records policy or the estate file.
If you only have a box or two and still cannot face the drive, ask yourself whether a free community shred day would do. Towns, banks and credit unions around the Seacoast run them from time to time. Our shred events page explains how to find one and what to expect.
What the Exeter Transfer Station on Cross Road will take
The Transfer Station is at 9 Cross Road, off Kingston Road (Route 111) west of downtown. Only Exeter residents and property owners can use it, with ID, and you need a permit: $20 for the calendar year or $5 for five days. The yearly permit goes on the lower driver’s side corner of your windshield.
Hours change with the season. From October 15 to December 15 the station is open Tuesday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. The rest of the year it is Tuesday, Friday and Saturday only. Check the town page before you go, because these schedules shift.
For paperwork, the station is mostly a place for overflow recycling. It will take your old paper shredder, though. The town lists paper shredders with washers and dryers as white goods that need a permit. If your home shredder died during last spring’s tax clean-out, that is where it goes.
Computers are another matter. Monitors, laptops, printers and loose hard drives need a $10 electronics sticker at the Transfer Station. Paying the sticker gets the hardware recycled. It does nothing to the data on the drive. Pull drives first and have them destroyed. Our hard drive disposal guide walks through it.
Fall reminder from the town: curbside leaf collection runs November 16 to 20, 2026, up to 12 biodegradable bags per home. Raking weekend is also a good weekend to fill a box or two with last decade’s statements for a weekday run to Tewksbury.
Exeter ZIP code and neighbouring towns
Exeter’s town offices at 10 Front Street use ZIP code 03833, and so does the Transfer Station on Cross Road. Every pickup in Exeter is Zone 3, the Seacoast and points north, at $199.95. We always confirm the zone at booking, so you know the full price before a driver is scheduled.
Exeter sits on a line between two pricing worlds. To the east, Hampton and Portsmouth are Zone 3 like you. To the southwest, the border towns such as Plaistow are Zone 1, at $129.95. If you have family or a second office in one of them, check whether the pickup is cheaper from there.
| Town | Pickup zone | Our page |
|---|---|---|
| Exeter, 03833 | Zone 3, $199.95 | This page |
| Hampton, on the coast | Zone 3, $199.95 | Hampton shredding options |
| Portsmouth and Pease | Zone 3, $199.95 | Portsmouth page |
| Plaistow, on Route 125 | Zone 1, $129.95 | Plaistow page |
| Hampstead | Confirmed at booking | Hampstead page |
On the coast, our page on shredding in Portsmouth covers the city and Pease, and the Hampton town page covers a beach town whose recycling rules happen to accept bagged shredded paper. Every town we serve is on the service areas map.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a shredding drop-off in Exeter NH?
Not from us. New Hampshire Document Shredding has no office or drop box in Exeter or anywhere in New Hampshire. We shred at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA. Exeter customers drive their boxes down, about 36 to 46 miles depending on the route, or book a Zone 3 pickup and we take the boxes to Tewksbury.
Can I put shredded paper in Exeter’s recycling?
No. The Town of Exeter’s recycling page lists shredded paper as not accepted in the curbside program, even though whole mail and office paper are. Home-shredded strips belong in a Town of Exeter blue trash bag. Paper you bring to us whole is shredded, baled and recycled, so you avoid both the bag and the privacy risk.
What does one box cost from Exeter?
A banker’s box of paper weighs about 30 pounds. Dropped off in Tewksbury, that is about $29.70 at 99 cents a pound plus $34.90 in per-job fees, or $64.60. If we pick up the same box in Exeter, the $199.95 Zone 3 transport fee brings it to about $264.55. For one box, driving is clearly cheaper.
How many boxes before a pickup makes sense?
It depends on how you value the drive, but most Exeter customers book a pickup at around 10 boxes or more. At that point the flat box rate applies, the job is too big for most cars, and the $199.95 fee is spread over a lot of paper. Twenty large boxes picked up total about $634.85 with all fees.
Which way should I drive from Exeter?
A route planner usually picks Route 108 south and Route 150 through Kensington into Amesbury, then I-495 south, about 38 miles and just under an hour. Route 111 and Route 125 through Kingston and Plaistow is shortest at about 36 miles. Route 101 east to I-95 is about 46 miles but nearly all highway.
Will the Exeter Transfer Station wipe my old computer?
No. With a $10 electronics sticker the Transfer Station accepts computers, laptops, monitors and hard drives for disposal. Disposal is not data destruction. Remove the drive before the computer goes to Cross Road. We physically destroy hard drives, phones, tapes and USB sticks and quote them per item, separately from paper.
Do I get a certificate for an Exeter pickup?
Yes. Every job, whether you drop off, book a pickup or watch a witnessed session, comes with a Certificate of Destruction. It is covered by the $14.95 HIPAA filing fee within the $34.90 per-job fees. Practices and other covered entities can also request a Business Associate Agreement before the first job.
Can I drop off on a Saturday?
No. The Tewksbury counter is open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern, and walk-in drop-off is weekdays only. Pickups and witnessed sessions outside those hours can be arranged by appointment. Call (978) 636-0301 or book online and tell us what time works for you.
Sources
- Town of Exeter, Recycling (accepted and not accepted items) (checked November 2026)
- Town of Exeter, Curbside Collection and blue bag prices (checked November 2026)
- Town of Exeter, Transfer Station hours, permits and electronics (checked November 2026)
- Town of Exeter, Places of Interest (checked November 2026)
- 16 CFR Part 682, Disposal of Consumer Report Information and Records (eCFR) (checked November 2026)
- IRS, How long should I keep records (checked November 2026)
Get your Exeter files off the shelf
Drive a few boxes to Tewksbury on a weekday, or book one Zone 3 pickup for the whole office. Either way the paper is shredded at our office, recycled, and documented on a Certificate of Destruction.
New Hampshire Document Shredding
1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876. Route 38 near I-495, about an hour from downtown Exeter. Free parking out front.
Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pickups and witnessed sessions by appointment.
- Drop-off: 99¢ per pound, walk in on weekdays
- Pickup: same rates plus $199.95 for Zone 3
- Witnessed: $1.99 per pound, $100 minimum
New Hampshire Document Shredding · 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876 · (978) 636-0301 · Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.