Many of us now have paper shredders in our homes, offices and classrooms. They are quick, quiet and inexpensive devices which help us destroy personal and confidential information with the minimum of fuss. However there is some issue which is often overlooked and that is the recycling element of shredded paper .
But many organisations who recycle paper won’t accept it in shredded form.. You may find that many organisations won’t recycle your shredded paper for very specific reasons. .
Probably the major reason is that of safety, certainly processing shredded paper can be dangerous.. It’s awkward to handle and sort, falls off conveyor belts, gets tangled in machinery and also represents a tangible fire risk. There is also a difficulty with sorting, many processing units are unable to sort or detect paper the size of shredded paper.
When you combine this with the fact that shredded paper actually reduces the fibre length of the paper. This will actually, reduce the quality and strength of any paper produced from this recycling. You can see why many companies would rather not deal with huge amounts of shredded paper.
Well then what’s the answer?
Of course the first thing you should do is check with your local recycling organisations, some companies have the facilities to deal with this paper easily. . If not try and reduce the amount of paper that you do shred, of course all confidential and personal papers should be shredded but often we get into a habit of shredding everything.
The other obvious use of shredded papers is to help in composting , although it cannot obviously be recycled then – it can be used or disposed of much more easily. You certainly should never risk not destroying confidential information, but think about the environmental options when possible..
Read how you can save money and reduce land fill by refilling your printer with compatible toner refills and many other green tips like paper shredding