Can you recycle shredded paper

Paper is made of fibers, and different types of paper have different fiber lengths. Printing paper is one of the highest grades, while tissues and toilet paper are a lower grade.

When paper is shredded, the fibers become shorter and are less useful in the recycling process Earth Once you mix shredded paper in with all of your other recyclables, it becomes non-recyclable. During mechanical sorting, shredded paper often gets mixed in with the small pieces of glass or falls through the filter screen and recycling centers are unable to retrieve it.

Find Recycling Guides for Other Materials. It depends on where you live. Shredded paper is one of the biggest material acceptance variables in curbside recycling, so you should check with your local curbside program before placing it in the recycle bin. Almost every city that accepts shredded paper will require that you bag it first. You can use a permanent marker to remove the personal information without shredding the document.

This ink is easily removed in the recycling process. In paper recycling, the longer the fibers, the higher the value of the paper. For shredded paper, the fiber lengths are purposefully shortened, thereby reducing the recycling market. Confidential documents or those containing personal or financial information should be shredded or at least partially destroyed before disposing of them.

Thankfully, Eco-Cycle has a solution to this conundrum. Eco-Cycle recommends ripping off the part of the paper that contains any sensitive information first and then putting the rest of the page in the recycling bin intact. Then you can just put all the info bits in an envelope and shred the whole thing afterward.

Note that you can also use smaller amounts of shredded paper as browns in your home compost bin. As long as the paper is free of plastic or staples, it should be great for adding carbon to the compost. This type of partial shredding works for home, of course, but commercial companies might end up with dumpsters full of shredded paper.

Shredding companies even exist to work with businesses, local governments, and recycling organizations. Companies like Iron Mountain offer recycling for even the most severely shredded paper products. As always, moderation is key to any eco-friendly lifestyle. The less paper you use, the better off you should be. Try to minimize your environmental impact by getting all your bills digitally rather than through the mail and by recycling paper whenever you can.