Many of us now have paper shredders in our homes, offices and classrooms. they are certainly quick, quiet and inexpensive and are useful to destroy personal and confidential information.. However there is some issue which is often overlooked and that is the recycling element of shredded paper.
Unfortunately many organisations won’t accept paper in a shredded for various reasons.. Many recycling organisations won’t accept shredded paper for various reasons.
Possibly the biggest reason is that processing shredded paper can be difficult.. 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.
So what’s the solution?
Well of course you should always check with your local recycling scheme, there are some companies who are set up to deal with shredded paper. 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. I certainly don’t advocate not destroying confidential information, but it’s worth considering the best option for the environment..
Read how you can save money and reduce land fill by refilling your printer with Compatible Toner and many other green tips like paper shredding
