Updated November 2026 · Southern New Hampshire
Residential shredding for New Hampshire households
Old tax returns, bank statements and medical bills from your house, cross-cut shredded at our Tewksbury office for 99 cents a pound. Here is what to shred, what to keep, and what each way of doing it really costs a New Hampshire household.
99¢ per pound at our Tewksbury drop-off. Certificate of Destruction on every job.
- 99¢ per pound
- Since 2007
- BBB A+ rated
- No appointment for drop-off
Quick answer
New Hampshire Document Shredding shreds household paper at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA, about 15 minutes south of the Salem and Pelham line: 99 cents per pound plus $34.90 in per-job fees, so one banker’s box of about 30 pounds costs $64.60 and three boxes cost $124.00. Shred anything with your name next to an account number, Social Security number, signature or health detail once you no longer need it, and keep tax records at least three years after you file. It is the same document shredding service our business customers use, with a Certificate of Destruction on every job.
What a New Hampshire household should shred
Identity thieves do not need your whole file. A name, an address and one account number is often enough to start. The paper that matters is anything that ties you to money, credit, health or a government ID.
The test we give people at the counter is simple. If a page shows your name together with an account number, a Social Security number, a signature, a date of birth or a health detail, it gets shredded. If it shows only your name and address, like a catalog, it can go in the recycling with your other paper.
Money and credit
Bank and credit card statements you no longer need, canceled checks, old check registers, loan payoff letters, pre-approved credit offers and brokerage statements from closed accounts. Our post on whether to shred old bank statements covers the timing.
Taxes and pay
Tax returns and supporting papers past their keep period, W-2s, 1099s, pay stubs once they match your W-2, and the drafts and printouts from tax software that pile up every spring.
Health and insurance
Explanations of benefits, medical bills, pharmacy printouts, prescription labels, lab results you have saved elsewhere and old insurance cards. Our guide to shredding medical paperwork at home lists what to keep.
Household accounts
Utility bills, phone and internet bills, old leases, rental applications, car loan papers after the title arrives and statements for accounts you have closed.
Mail you never asked for
Credit card offers, balance transfer checks and insurance solicitations with your name printed on a reply form. Our list of junk mail to shred separates the risky pieces from plain catalogs.
IDs and old cards
Employee badges from past jobs, expired membership cards and the photocopies of driver’s licenses that end up in folders. Plastic cards and anything that is not paper go in a separate bag.
Old phones, laptops, CDs and USB sticks are a separate job. They are physically destroyed and quoted per item, and our page on hard drive destruction explains how to bring them.
What to keep before you shred
Shredding is permanent, so start with what you need to hold on to. For taxes, the IRS sets the clock with its periods of limitations. For everything else, a little common sense goes a long way.
| Paper | How long to keep it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Federal tax returns and supporting records | At least 3 years after filing | IRS general period of limitations |
| Returns where income was underreported by more than 25 percent | 6 years | IRS period for omitted income over 25 percent of gross income |
| Records for a bad debt or worthless securities claim | 7 years | IRS period for those claims |
| Home purchase and improvement records | Until the period of limitations runs for the year you sell | IRS: keep property records until the limitations period expires for the year you dispose of the property |
| Household employer records, such as a nanny’s pay | At least 4 years | IRS employment tax rule |
| Bank and card statements | Until you have checked them and need none for taxes | Many banks keep statements online for years |
| Birth certificates, Social Security cards, passports, wills, deeds, car titles | Keep the originals for good | Hard or slow to replace |
What you keep deserves a better home than a cardboard box in the garage. A fire-resistant box or a locked drawer for originals, plus one folder per tax year, makes next spring’s purge a five-minute job. Label each folder with the year you can let it go, and the decision is already made when the date comes around.
Scanning helps too, with a caution. Once a statement is saved as a PDF and backed up, the paper copy is a liability rather than a record. Keep paper originals only where a copy will not do, such as a will, a deed or a car title.
For the tax side in more depth, read our tax record retention guide. For business and rental papers, our document retention guide has the longer tables.
What residential shredding costs
Household shredding is priced the same way as business shredding. You pay by weight, plus two per-job fees that cover the Certificate of Destruction paperwork and recycling the shred. A banker’s box of paper weighs about 30 pounds, which makes the math easy to do at the kitchen table.
| Boxes per year | Drop-off | Witnessed | Pickup Zone 1 | Pickup Zone 2 | Pickup Zone 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 box (about 30 lb) | $64.60 | $134.90 | $194.55 | $224.55 | $264.55 |
| 3 boxes (about 90 lb) | $124.00 | $214.00 | $253.95 | $283.95 | $323.95 |
| 6 boxes (about 180 lb) | $213.10 | $393.10 | $343.05 | $373.05 | $413.05 |
The pattern is clear. For one to six boxes, driving them down is the cheapest option by a wide margin. Witnessed shredding costs more because it runs $1.99 a pound with a $100 minimum, and pickups add the zone fee. The pickup only starts to make sense when lifting and loading the boxes is the real problem.
Batching gives you the biggest saving. Two trips with one box each cost $129.20 in total, while one trip with both boxes costs $94.30, because the $34.90 is charged once per job. Our residential shredding cost comparison runs more scenarios, and the full price list is on our shredding rates page.
Estimate how much your household will shred
Count your boxes or bags, pick how you want to shred, and the estimator below gives you a price using the same rates as the table above.
Shredding Cost Calculator
Pick a service and enter your volume. Get an instant estimate.
Tip: one banker box of paper is about 30 pounds.
Estimated Total
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Estimate only. Final price confirmed when you book. Off-site material must be ground-level or elevator access.
Three ways to get household paper shredded
We shred everything at one place: our office at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. It sits on Route 38 near the I-495 interchange, about 15 minutes south of the state line at Salem and Pelham by I-93 or Route 38. We have no office or drop box in New Hampshire, so there are three ways your paper reaches the shredder.
Drop-off is what most households choose. Walk in any weekday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. with no appointment, park out front, and staff help you unload. Your paper is shredded the same business day. Our drop-off shredding page has the details, and our post on the drive from Salem to Tewksbury walks through the route.
Pickup suits a basement full of boxes, a long drive or someone who should not be lifting. Book an appointment, we collect the boxes, and they are shredded after they reach our office. The zone fee depends on your town, and we confirm it when you book. See our off-site shredding page.
Drop-off
99¢ per pound, plus $34.90 per job. No appointment, weekdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Best for one to ten boxes and anyone who can drive to Tewksbury.
Pickup
Same shredding rate plus $129.95 (Zone 1), $159.95 (Zone 2) or $199.95 (Zone 3). Appointment required. A handling fee for stairs is quoted up front.
Witnessed
$1.99 per pound, $100 minimum, plus $34.90 per job. You watch your paper go through the shredder at our office and the certificate is signed in front of you.
What happens at the counter
Pull up out front and come in, or ask and someone will help carry the boxes. We weigh what you brought, you pay by the pound plus the per-job fees, and the paper goes into the queue for the shredder that same business day. You do not need to stay and watch.
You leave with a Certificate of Destruction for the job. Few households ever need to show one, but executors, landlords and anyone who runs a business from home are glad to have it in the file. Plan on a short stop, not an afternoon.
Most of our New Hampshire customers live within a short drive. If you are unsure which zone covers your town, our service areas page lists the towns we serve.
Tax season: the once-a-year household purge
Spring is when most New Hampshire households clear the file box. The new return is done, the W-2s and 1099s have arrived and the oldest year in the drawer has aged out. It is the natural moment to shred, and one trip a year keeps the per-job fees to a single $34.90.
- File this year’s return firstKeep the return and every form that supports it with your records. Nothing from the current year goes in the shred pile.
- Pull the oldest yearFor most people that is the return filed more than three years ago. Keep longer if you underreported income, claimed a bad debt or worthless securities, or still own a property the papers relate to.
- Sweep the rest of the houseAdd the year’s bank statements, pay stubs, EOBs, receipts you no longer need and the junk mail with account numbers.
- Box it without sorting staplesStaples, paper clips, rubber bands and folders can stay. Pull three-ring binder hardware and hanging-folder frames. Our guide on how to prepare documents for shredding covers the rest.
- Bring it in on a weekdayDrive to Tewksbury between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and leave with an empty trunk and a Certificate of Destruction.
Moving this year? Do the purge before the movers pack, not after. Paying to move a box of old statements only to shred it later is the most common waste we see. Our list of what to shred before moving helps you sort fast.
Shredding after a death in the family
Clearing a parent’s papers is one of the hardest jobs a family takes on. It is also when people shred too early. Before anything goes in a box for us, the executor or administrator needs to know which papers the estate still needs.
The IRS says the final income tax return of someone who has died is prepared “the same way you would if the person were alive,” and that you may have to file returns for earlier years the person never filed. That means the last few years of tax papers, bank statements and investment records should stay until the returns are filed and the estate is settled.
Keep until the estate is closed
Wills and trust papers, deeds, car titles, the death certificate copies, recent tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, insurance policies and anything the probate court or the estate’s attorney may ask for.
Usually safe to shred sooner
Old utility bills, decades of canceled checks, expired insurance cards, duplicate statements, junk mail and medical bills that have been paid. Confirm with the executor before the boxes leave the house.
Work in order. Gather the mail for a few months first, because statements and tax forms that arrive after the death show you which accounts still exist. Once each account is closed or transferred and the executor has what the estate needs, the older statements for that account can go in the shred box. Sorting account by account is slower on day one and far faster by the end.
A person’s identity can be misused after death, so do not put these papers in the curbside recycling. Our post on shredding after a death covers what to keep and what to shred in more detail. If the whole house is being cleared, our estate cleanout shredding page explains how a single large pickup works.
Free shred events vs paying to shred
Free community shred days are a good deal when the timing works. Towns, banks and credit unions run them in southern New Hampshire, usually with a truck in a parking lot for a few hours. The FTC’s identity theft advice even suggests you “look for a local shred day in your community” if you do not own a shredder.
The catch is the calendar. Events happen a few times a year at best, they often limit how many boxes you can bring, and lines can be long. If the event is three months away and the boxes are in your hallway now, waiting has its own risk.
| Question | Free shred event | Paid drop-off in Tewksbury |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Usually free, sometimes a donation | 99¢ per pound plus $34.90 per job |
| When | Set by the host, a few dates a year | Any weekday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Volume | Often limited per car, set by the host | No limit |
| Proof | Depends on the host | Certificate of Destruction on every job |
| Media and drives | Often not accepted | Accepted, quoted per item |
If you do go to an event, go early, bring your paper in boxes or bags you do not need back, and leave drives, film and binders at home unless the host says they are accepted. Ask whether the host offers any record of destruction if you need one for an estate or a home business file.
Our advice: use a free event for a box or two if one is coming up soon, and pay for anything larger or more urgent. Always confirm the date, hours and limits with the host before you go. Our page on shred events explains who usually hosts them, and our post on free shredding for seniors covers low-cost options for older residents.
Why the recycling bin is not enough
Curbside recycling and transfer-station paper bins are built to move paper, not to protect it. Bags sit at the curb overnight, and loads are handled and sorted before the paper is pulped. Anything legible in your bag stays legible the whole way.
The FTC’s identity theft guidance is plain about it: keep your financial records in a safe place, and “shred them before you throw them away.” It also suggests you take mail out of the mailbox as soon as you can, because the paper trail starts there. Credit card offers and statements left in an unattended box are easy pickings.
- Shred anything with an account number, Social Security number, signature, date of birth or health detail.
- Recycle catalogs, flyers, envelopes without account numbers and newspapers as usual.
- Do not tear pages in half and call it done. Torn pages are easy to tape back together.
- Do not burn paper in a backyard fire pit to get rid of it. Shredding is cleaner and every pound is recycled.
Our post on identity theft from trash explains how thieves use discarded paper and what to do if you think it has happened to you.
Home shredder or a shredding service
A home shredder is the right tool for the daily trickle: the credit card offer that arrives on Tuesday, the receipt from the pharmacy. Shred it at the door and it never reaches a pile. For a few pages a week, a machine by the recycling bin is hard to beat.
It is the wrong tool for a backlog. Feeding years of statements a few sheets at a time takes evenings, and most home machines jam on staples, overheat on long runs and fill their bin quickly. Cheaper strip-cut models also leave long strips that are easier to piece back together than the cross-cut particles from our shredders.
Daily mail
Home shredder. A few pages a day is what those machines are built for.
One box
Either works. If it is mostly stapled statements, drop-off saves an afternoon.
Three or more boxes
Drop-off. You leave the boxes, keep the staples in, and leave with a certificate.
Basement full
Pickup. Lifting and loading is the hard part, so let someone else do it.
If you are pricing a machine, our post on the cost of running a home shredder adds up what a machine really costs to own and run. To estimate how much paper your house produces in a year, see our post on how much paper a household shreds.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to shred one box of household paper?
A full banker’s box holds about 30 pounds of paper. At our Tewksbury drop-off that is $29.70 at 99 cents per pound, plus $34.90 in per-job fees for the certificate paperwork and recycling, for $64.60 in total. Bring more boxes on the same trip and the fees stay at $34.90, so three boxes come to about $124.00.
Do I need an appointment to drop off paper?
No. Walk-in drop-off runs Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury. Park out front and staff help you unload. Your paper is shredded the same business day. Pickups and witnessed sessions do need an appointment, which you can book online or by calling (978) 636-0301.
Do I have to remove staples, clips and folders?
Leave them in. Staples, paper clips, binder clips, rubber bands and file folders are fine. Please take out three-ring binder hardware, hanging-folder frames and anything that is not paper. Old phones, CDs, USB sticks and hard drives go in a separate bag because they are physically destroyed and quoted per item, not priced by the pound.
How long should I keep tax records before shredding them?
The IRS general rule is three years after you file. Keep six years if you left out income worth more than 25 percent of the gross income on your return, and seven years for a bad debt or worthless securities claim. Keep property records until the period runs out for the year you sell. Household employment tax records need at least four years.
Is there a drop-off location in New Hampshire?
No. We have no office, kiosk or drop box in New Hampshire. All shredding happens at our office on Route 38 in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, about 15 minutes south of the state line at Salem and Pelham by I-93 or Route 38. If the drive does not work for you, book a pickup and we will confirm your zone fee when you book.
Are free shred events better than paying?
For one or two boxes on the right weekend, a free event run by a town, bank or credit union is a good deal. Events happen a few times a year, often limit volume and may not give you any proof of destruction. For larger amounts or paper you want gone now, drop-off at 99 cents per pound works any weekday, with a certificate on every job.
What should I do with a parent’s papers after they die?
Hold off on shredding until the executor confirms what the estate needs. Keep recent tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, insurance policies, deeds, titles and the will until the final returns are filed and the estate is settled. After that, old bills, canceled checks and duplicate statements can be shredded. Do not put them in curbside recycling, since a person’s identity can be misused after death.
Can I watch my documents being shredded?
Yes. A witnessed session at our Tewksbury office costs $1.99 per pound with a $100 minimum, plus the $34.90 per-job fees. You watch your paper go through the shredder and the Certificate of Destruction is signed in front of you. For one box, the minimum makes it about twice the cost of a regular drop-off, so most households choose it only for very sensitive papers.
Sources
- IRS: How long should I keep records? (checked November 2026)
- IRS: File the final income tax returns of a deceased person (checked November 2026)
- FTC: What to know about identity theft (checked November 2026)
Clear the file box this week
Load the car and drive down any weekday, or book a pickup if the boxes are heavy or the drive is long. Every household job is cross-cut shredded in Tewksbury, recycled and backed by a Certificate of Destruction.
Visit or call
1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876. Route 38 near the I-495 interchange, about 15 minutes south of the NH line. Free parking out front.
Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Walk-in drop-off is weekdays only. Pickups and witnessed sessions by appointment.
Three ways to shred: walk-in drop-off at 99¢ per pound, pickup by zone, or a witnessed session at $1.99 per pound.
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.