Newspaper Shredder

K

Kelmar

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In our area there is a recyclables collection once per month with normal bin collections on the other weeks of the month. Having become really enthusiastic about the whole recycling idea we now find that "green" bin is full after about 10 days. The main culprits in our case are newspapers and magazines - they take up so much space in the bin.

I was wondering if there is any such thing as a reasonably priced domestic newspaper shredder. Most of the shredders I have seen are for shredding office A4 paper and feeding newspapers into them would be painful.
 
I don't see how shredding them is going to reduce the amount of space that they take up. After all this will not change the mass/volume of the waste paper.
 
Apart from the last posters point with which I agree,there is a more important issue at stake here. Think of how your recycled waste is collected, sorted, segregated and processed. It's invariably put on a conveyor where there will be some human involvement in the segregation. It's very easy to segregate whole papers/ books magazines etc for recycling. Shredded paper on the other hand will "contaminate" the line and is counter productive. Also think of how long it would take you to shred each paper- too long. Try washing out all your tetra packs before flat packing them, crush all plastic bottles, alum. cans instead.
 
You must either have a huge volume of papers and magazines or a very small bin. Shredding isn't going to make any difference (as pointed out above) to the volume of the paper, so that won't do you any good.

If you do have a huge volume of papers you could think (if disposal/recycling is the concern) of reducing your consumption by reading online, not taking Metro/Herald AM/freesheets in general, not buying loads of bulky Sundays and so on. I don't think many people will chage their reading habits to suit their recycling problems, but think of the money you would save too . . .

z
 
It takes about 10 minutes to shred an Irish Times by hand. It's quite therapeutic really. Useful for putting into the composter - I was hesitant about using something with that much ink on it but apparently it's okay.
 
Tabloids work better in compost.
They are genetically nearer the final product.
 
If the bin is recycling bin is filling up so quickly, is there any nearby paper recycling location/bin that you can drop some of your papers directly into occasionally?

Another form of recycling of newspapers is to see if your local vets or pet shelter could use them (for lining pet cages, etc.). Maybe you could divert some of your excess paper in that direction.

Yet another option, as mentioned earlier, is to use some of the excess newspaper in your compost bin, if you have one. This can be very useful if your compost heap is a bit soggy, as it helps to allow air to circulate in the heap (if you lightly scrunch up individual newspaper pages before throwing them in). If we are chucking grass clippings into our compost heap, we usually put a layer of scrunched up newspaper between every couple of buckets full of grass.
 
It's worth mentioning for an environmental point of view that the shredder will use electricity..........hence more green house gases.
 
I've just finished reading "44- Dublin Made Me" by Peter Sheridan and came across a tip, which I won't be using myself but may be of interest to some of the previous posters!

Aparently Jim and Peter's da had a toilet for his own use in the garage attached to the house. This toilet was stocked with neat squares of paper cut from old telepone directories; these pinned on a wire bedded in the wall. Recycling and frugal living was alive and well in the Sheridan household in the 60s and 70s. Probably best not to shred them, though
 
Apparently there are some tasty scraps to be had in certain bins around Dublin too. Save €€€€€s on those expensive bought lunches.
 
Worth noting that newsprint and other hard-texture paper (including most types of common disposable tissues) can clog domestic septic tank systems, if flushed down the toilet.
 
Does anyone have recommendations for a confidential document shredder for a home office, or are they all much of a muchness and cant go wrong

also, where is the best place to purchase one south side dublin direction

thanks
 
Jo90 said:
Does anyone have recommendations for a confidential document shredder for a home office, or are they all much of a muchness and cant go wrong

also, where is the best place to purchase one south side dublin direction

thanks
Click to expand...

You could always get one from Viking Direct, they come with a lifetime supply of waste paper.
 
From the point of view of extra security, go for a cross-cut shredder rather than one that just shreds paper into long strips (which are obviously easier to piece back together than cross-cut/irregular strips). The difference in price is negligible at the cheap end of the market.

We have a cross-cut shredder that we bought in Homebase a couple of years ago for about 30euro. It is adequate. It says it'll take a maximum of 5 sheets at a time but a more realistic maximum is 3 for standard weight A4 paper and probably 1 for heavy weight paper. It also overheats if you are shredding stuff for more than 10 minutes at a time and stops working for a while - you have to leave it for half an hour before you can use it again (although that is inconvenient, it is good that it cuts itself off from a safety point of view).

You could pay a lot more money for a heavier duty shredder that handles more sheets at a time and is quieter, but for occasional use they are overkill and don't necessarily shred the paper any more effectively.
 
Kelmar, can you ask your council for a second green bin? There is no charge for collecting the green bin so I'd say the only cost you'd have is if they make you pay for the new bin.
 
would you not consider soaking them in water and making paper mache type lumps/bricks which can be burnt in the fire , cutting down on your fuel bills?
 
Ravima said:
would you not consider soaking them in water and making paper mache type lumps/bricks which can be burnt in the fire , cutting down on your fuel bills?
Click to expand...

I was thinking of doing this. Saw a paper log maker advertised somewhere but can't remember where!
 
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