Meet Ryan Shinn of ASDD Document Destruction in Tempe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Shinn.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Ryan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
ASDD Document Destruction is a social enterprise of TCH – The Centers for Habilitation, an Arizona 501(c)3 non-profit. TCH provides resources to individuals with developmental disabilities, ASDD is one of those resources. Part of the ASDD program is to provide job training and development to individuals with disabilities so that they can obtain and hold meaningful employment.

Eventually, we would love to lose all of our employees, because it means our program was successful and we can continue to bring in new individuals. The second side of the ASDD social enterprise is to generate revenue for our non-profit TCH. TCH is a state-funded non-profit but we only receive 70% of what we need to operate from the state so through social enterprises like ASDD and donations & grants we are able to make up the other 30%.

ASDD got its start 14 years ago, the IRS wanted to help employ an underemployed part of the population, individuals with disabilities. Grants were put out to non-profits like TCH to purchase shredding equipment and the provided the training on security. ASDD quickly found success with the model and expanded beyond just doing the shredding for the IRS in AZ. ASDD is now the shredding provider for the State of AZ and many other businesses spread throughout the entire state.

Has it been a smooth road?
While ASDD is on an upward projection, we have grown by 45% over the last five years, it has been a competitive road. Arizona is home to over 30 different shredding companies, the marketplace changes frequently, with new companies coming in, others going out of business and others merging together. This unstable growth and change cause wide swings in pricing from competitors that can make the value of your product unstable as well.

Our secondary source of income is pulp. Once we shred our customer’s documents we sell the shredded pulped paper to a secure paper mill that will turn it back into consumable products, like tissue paper, toilet paper and paper towels. Over the last ten years the mill’s processes have been refined and in such the value of pulped paper has dropped. So while we are producing more pulp than ever before, we are getting less for that product. Currently, we process about 7.5 million pounds a paper a year.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with ASDD Document Destruction – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
ASDD Document Destruction is a secure destruction company. We shred our customer’s confidential documents. While the majority of our work is shredding paper documents, we also shred; hard drives, other metal items that customers don’t want to end up in the wrong hands, plastic media such as CDs/DVDs, tapes and IDs. We also shred product packaging, like boxes, labels, stickers, etc. Basically, any item that a customer wants to keep confidential or from ending up in the wrong hands, we have a way to destroy it.

What sets us apart, unlike the other shredding companies in AZ we are 501(c)3 non-profit. 100% of the revenue we generate goes to support individuals with disabilities.

We are most proud that we are a company that strives to lose our employees. Our mission is to provide job training to individuals with developmental disabilities that might not be able to hold meaningful employment in the community. We provide those individuals with jobs and a job coach here at our facility. The job coach works with the employee to help teach them the skills they will need to hold employment. Once they have reached their goals with us, we help them find other employment in the community and then we start the process over with new employees.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Tempe is a fantastic community to be based in. The city and its residents support us in countless ways, through donations, grants and just positive support. Being the only landlocked city in the metro Phoenix area has created a unique culture in our city and an undying support of one another.

There is nothing to not like about Tempe.

Pricing:

• Any individual or business is welcome to bring their shredding directly to our facility and we will provide the service 100% Free. We are open Mon-Fri from 8am-4pm for FREE drop off services.

Contact Info:

• Address: 225 W. Lodge Dr Tempe, AZ 85283
• Website: www.shredASDD.org & www.tch-az.com
• Phone: 480-730-4133
• Email: asddsales@tch-az.com

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