Shredding solutions?

[AshGirl]

We have a lot of old correspondence / documents to get rid of. I've not wanted to just dump them in the bin for confidentiality reasons.

What solutions do people use? Do you have your own shredder? Should we use a shredding service (expensive!) to clear the back log?

Can you burn it ?

We have a shredder, but I have also taken small batches into work to do. You can also get little stamps to cover the personal parts too, then the papers can safely be recycled.
Burning sounds like a bad idea.

I own a shredder. I rip off the personal stuff and only shred that section. Saves a bit of energy.

I just rip up the old thing by hand, but if there's lots I will chuck it in the fireplace.

A shredded would be handy occasionally but I can't bear the thought of another ugly electronic box in my house...

If you have a lot of shredding invest in a decent shredder. The £40/50 ones overheat after about 30 minutes. Check the run time. I bought one for about £100 from Costco and it’s brilliant for when the shredding has built up or you’re having a clear out.

I bought a cross cut shredder from Tesco (about 40 quid, I think) and just did a few minutes per day. Bit by bit was more manageable and the pile soon reduced.

Looks like the consensus is that I should just get a shredder! I used to work somewhere with shredding available but didn't get round to taking it in to the office before I left, and now I'm stuck with piles of the stuff!

I've done a mix of into the fireplace, into the work shredder. Now I wfh I have a decent shredder and keep on top of it.

We have an incinerator bin in the garden.
Burns paperwork/school books etc nicely down to ash which can be spread on the garden. Barely any smoke so not antisocial if set alight on a cool evening.

Burn it outside

Op I once burnt a few papers in the garden to see if would be a quick way of getting rid of stuff and it stunk. I’ve got a reasonable sized garden but the smoke reaches my neighbours and it seemed unnecessary and unpleasant to them so now I shred a few papers at a time.

i have heard that a lot of ink is waterproof so it’s possible with a lot of papers to just put them in water to get rid of personal information but then they you would have a pulpy mess to get rid of!

I have a small shredder for occasional shredding as I go. The paper can then be put on the compost heap.

If I have large amounts I burn it in the wood stove in several batches (using it as kindling).

I used a shredding service. The first archive box was about £18, every box after that was £4, I just made sure I collected everything together before I went. Could watch it all go through if I wanted and 6 boxes destroyed v quickly!

I do something very weird but it works.

If there's loads after a big clear out I put it all in a bath of bleach water for an hour then scrunch up into balls and put in the recycling bin. Bleach messes up the ink and the water turns it to pulp.

I find shredders crap and I don't like burning things in the garden so I came up with this. It works!

I used to spend ages shredding. For some reason it builds up to a huge pile. Although the shredder was a good one, it built up and took ages.

Now I just dump the papers into a big bucket (actually an old storage box), cover with water and leave to soak, stir occasionally to break it down, and then dump it out to let it dry. Once dry it’s like cardboard and can be recycled. No remaining identifying details.

Great minds think alike 😀

Get a shredder. There are firms that do this but shredders are around £30 on Amazon.

I phoned a local commercial shredding service as I had loads of paperwork after clearing out my parents' house. They were happy to take them and just asked me to put a tenner in their charity collection tin. Worth asking!

I bought a Cross cut shredded from argos last weekend it was about £30
It's early days yet so I don't know how long it will last .
It has a basket rather than box to collect the paper so you can clearly see how full it is.
But it is very top heavy , I can see me easily knocking it over as I take the top off to empty it.

I plan on using the paper to bulk out my cats litter as that is getting sodding expensive!

Obviously burning is bad for the planet, have had shredders for years. My DS was the victim of identity theft.... everything with a name, address,till receipts is shredded usually monthly. Once a year big sort out, warranties shredded. Goes in the compost bin. My NDN who are absolutely neurotic,cameras pir lights everywhere,lock back door when in the back garden, don't shred anything.

Dean,that's a brilliant idea,I have in the past used it for small animal bedding.

At my old workplace, the maintenance guy use to have a bucket of very hot water on the go, and put wodges of paper in it… stir it with an old fork and it would dissolve into pulp. He would apparently squeeze it out to blocks and use it on his fire!! I tried it at home once… it works!

I've composted mine. I do like making compost though.

I've composted a good 3-4 bookcases full of files, old paperwork from different jobs, old degree notes [I've done 4 degrees and loads of different courses] and when I was off last summer, I took the remaining paperwork and used it to pad out the packing when I moved countries, and then composted all that and then the 100 odd boxes when I got here.

I just rip it into long strips and then layer it with kitchen or garden waste when I take that out.

Not sure how effective this would be as I haven’t tried, but I read a thing where a lady put confidential documents in kitchen bin, then chucked disgusting sloppy leftovers on top. Nobody is gonna wanna dig through that! Probably only good for the odd letter now and then though.

I use a shredder. I sometimes shred for 10-15 mins while watching TV in evening. Keeps on top of it but I did burn the first lot in garden before I got shredder.