Going to pieces is good for Houma business

Fletcher among nation’s fastest growing tech colleges
December 20, 2011
Mandry J. Bourgeois Sr.
December 22, 2011
Fletcher among nation’s fastest growing tech colleges
December 20, 2011
Mandry J. Bourgeois Sr.
December 22, 2011

On the surface Rocky Laliberte is in the document shredding business. The result of his work also has him involved in security, environmental protection, records management, recycling and time improvement services.


During an age when identity theft and privacy issues are a concern, as well as making the most of employees workloads, operations like Cross Cut Shredders offer a benefit that enhances time management, security for disposed information and environmental awareness.

“We do document shredding, climate control file storage, as well as destruction of hard drives and laptops,” Laliberte said.


Coming out of the oil industry, the Houma-based shredding entrepreneur did his research and decided four years ago that there was a market for secured records removal, which he could capitalize.


Since May 1, 2007, Laliberte has built his business to cover an area reaching from Broussard to north of Lake Pontchartrain with more than 300 regular clients and multiple walk-in jobs each year.

Laliberte said his patron list varies from banks and medical facilities to grocery stores and both small and large businesses. Basically, anywhere sensitive material including account information, job applications and social security numbers could be found are right for professional shredding and removal. “Everybody has something to get rid of, it is just a matter of getting rid of it properly,” he said.


The first paper shredder was patented on Aug. 31, 1909, but the product was never manufactured. A hand crank paper shredder, built on the same principle as a pasta maker, was developed in Germany during the 1930s. It was not until 1959 that paper shredders began being used by U.S. government officials, and not until the 1980s that the disposal product began being used in business settings. Since then the tools for shredding and the businesses of document destruction itself have advanced.


Working on a route-scheduling basis, Cross Cut Shredders provide customers with lined and locked containers into which they can insert sensitive material. Upon pickup, a Cross Cut representative arrives with a truck that is itself a shredder into which the lined contents of the container, which resembles a two-wheeled trash can, are dumped into the truck. A series of blades and angle iron completely cut, rip and tear approximately 150 pounds of documents in about two minutes. Each truck can hold approximately 6,000 pounds of paper before needing to be unloaded.

Laliberte said an office worker could generally shred up to 10 pages in 2 minutes using a conventional office shredder. “We can get in there and do hundreds of pounds and be done in about 15 minutes,” he said.


“[Our service] eliminates buying office shredders and burning them up [because of massive use], and the labor expense in doing the shredding and throwing it into the dumpster,” Laliberte said. “I’m sure they can find better things to do with their time.”


Shredded documents are recycled and do not go into landfills. Instead, the remains of one-time documents are turned back into paper products.

The Cross Cut shredding truck is unloaded at the company receiving facility where it is compacted and bailed into large blocks of what looks like insulation fiber.

Bundled into a 1,400-pound paper cube, the remains of one-time documents are loaded onto transport trailers. Once the inventory reaches 2,200 tons it is transported to paper mills. “We send one to three trucks [to the mill] a month, Laliberte said.

Laliberte said that while office shredders typically leave strands in strips or even diamond shaped cuts, with a little effort documents could be put back together to reveal sensitive information. His process leaves nothing that can be recognized as having been a letter, invoice, medical or banking statement or any other printed item.

Cross Cut is also able to destroy cardboard for recycling and can completely destroy CDs, computer hard drives and old electronic equipment, leaving the remains as small chips which by themselves offer no significance in terms of what they once were or the information they contained. “The biggest piece left is smaller than a pencil eraser,” Laliberte said.

“It is hard to believe I can do something for [my clients] cheaper than they can do it themselves, but I’m set up to do it,” Laliberte added. “Once you start doing it, there is not turning back.”

Laliberte said that security is his primary intention linked to document shredding and records storage and management. In a climate-controlled warehouse (with strategically positioned cameras at locked doors) Cross Cut Shredders keeps boxed files for clients that are not quite ready to have sensitive material destroyed. “It is file management and it is cheaper than a storage building,” he said.

“A lot of my customers [work in paperless environments],” Laliberte said. “The thing with paper is it starts with paper. Every time they need something they print to paper, then they have to dispose of it again. Having it paperless is convenient, but when you have a board meeting and make copies you have paper again.”

With client confidentiality a concern, Laliberte said that he and his crew are able to put documents through the process without touching a single document or infringing on client security.

Recycling destroyed material enhances the environment and helps keep products affordable.

By shredding an average 44 tons of material a month, Laliberte has found himself helping benefit the business and lives of others by providing multiple services.

Cross Cut Shredders owner Rocky Laliberte demonstrates how 150 pounds of paper stock is completely destroyed in about two minutes when dumped into a specially equipped truck. MIKE NIXON