Online Staff Report

Saturday, Sept. 10, Alpine Bank shredded a Guinness World Records record and 253,318 pounds of paper. This total nearly triples the prior record of 87,360.

The bank teamed up with Paper Recovery Service Corporation and Iron Mountain to hold the first-ever “Shredding a World Record” Community Shred Day in the area at the following four Alpine Bank locations: 6838 E. State St., Rockford; 600 S. State St., Belvidere; 5023 Rockrose Court, Roscoe; and at the Paper Recovery Corporation,7972 Crest Hills Drive, Loves Park.

The entire community was invited to attend this free event and join Alpine Bank in the fight against identity theft and fraud.

The current World Record for the “Most Paper Collected in 24 Hours” was set May 2, 2011, of 87,360 pounds by American Shredding and KUTV Channel 2 News in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Attendees of the Alpine Bank “Shredding a World Record” Community Shred Day, without leaving the comforts of their vehicles, dropped off their documents at the “shredding drive-thrus” and watch Paper Recovery or Iron Mountain shred them during the event at each branch location on site, free of charge.

Identity theft continues to be a serious growing crime in the United States. As noted on the Federal Trade Commission’s website, nearly 9 million Americans are victims of some form of identity theft each year. Shredding personal documents and information is just one way to avoid becoming a victim. All of the shred collected at this event will be recycled by Paper Recovery and Iron Mountain.

“Alpine Bank is very excited about the success of this event and would like to thank the community for the overwhelming support and participation,” said Alpine Bank President & CEO Bill Roop.

Alpine Bank holds Community Shred Days each year as an opportunity for all members of the community to take precaution and protect themselves from a very serious crime. In attempting to break a world record, the bank wanted to create even more awareness about identity theft prevention and also help our planet by recycling the largest amount of shredded paper collected in 24 hours.

Guinness World Record official adjudicator Freddie Hoff was onsite during the entire event Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Freddie is based out of New York, but is originally from Copenhagen, Denmark. She was on hand to make the official presentation of the certificate of authenticity to Alpine Bank for breaking this Guinness World Record.

For more about Guinness and the record-breaking process, visit www.guinnessworldrecords.com.

For more information about this event, contact Lesly Couper at Alpine Bank at (815) 398-6500 or visit www.bankalpine.com. For more information about identity theft and tips to protect yourself, visit the Alpine Bank Online Security Center at www.bankalpine.com/about/security/.

Alpine Bank

Alpine Bank is a locally-owned financial institution serving Winnebago, Boone and DeKalb counties with a total of 15 locations in Rockford, Belvidere, Cherry Valley, Kirkland, Loves Park, Machesney Park, and Roscoe.

Founded in 1908, Alpine Bank offers a variety of financial products and services for consumers, small businesses, agricultural businesses and commercial companies, and provides investment and financial services through Alpine Trust & Investment Group.

For more information, visit www.bankalpine.com ^[1].