What to do with shred paper?

[lincap]

I am doing a MAJOR declutter and have to shred some papers. I recycled a ton but now I have to shred. Can I recycle shred paper? I don't want to just throw it out.

Thanks

[Oonah]

our recycle program accepts shredded paper

[bellabear]

I have been shreading paper today, too! I'll check and see if our city accepts it

[lincap]

Yes! I will have to call them Monday to see if they take it with the recycling! I hope so!

[motheringforme]

Our local pet store asks for it for hampster cages. Supposedly, wood chips are more harmful because the animals breathe in dust or something, so they collect shredded paper.

[boatbaby]

Call your local SPCA... they always need it for the animals!

[lincap]

That is such an AWESOME IDEA!

[CathMac]

Do you have a wood stove? Preferably a non-catalytic one? If so I may have a money saving idea for you.

I recently came across a catalogue with a gizmo that you use to turn shredded paper into "briquettes". The basic instructions in the catalogue call for wetting and crumpling paper, possibly whole pieces (rather than shredded paper). These briquettes seem to be meant for starting fires, probably because they aren't that dense.

However, I did a little research and it looks like these are used over in the UK and the process is a little more labor intensive but may result in briquettes with more heating value. Even more research led to some articles on using these (and similar processing methods) to produce alternative heating and cooking fuel sources in third world countries. The pictures I've seen of those made by "Do It Yourselfers" definitely appear to be made from shredded paper. The paper in the other ones appear to be completely broken down and probably result in a much more dense briquette.

If you have kids it might be a fun experiment. Basically you soak the shredded paper for as long as a week or so. You can use bleach to acclerate the "breakdown" or "retting" process. The bleach is probably also good for discouraging mold growth. You put the pulp in the the rectangular gizmo and push down on two levers to squeeze out as much of the water as possible. Then you lay them out in a warm space to dry. The drying time varies depending upon how effectively you compress the briquettes. I'm guessing it takes at least a week or so even for well compressed briquettes.

Some Do It Yourselfers use milk cartons but I don't know how you would squeeze enough water out. Perhaps you could poke holes in the sides and push down from the top. The cooking briquettes made in third world companies are donut shaped which probably speeds drying and makes them ignite better. I think they use two PVC pipes to mold these, one inside the other, but I'm not sure how they squeeze the water out.

The reason I suggest using these in a non-catalytic stove is because the colored ink and chemicals used to create glossy paper in junk mail may damage catalytic converters. Although I wonder if the "retting" process would leach a lot of those chemicals out of the paper. I'd worry about those chemicals getting in the water but one way or the other they are going back into the environment: air, landfill or water.

I'm posting this here on the off chance that someone else looking for something to do with their shredded paper runs across this thread and happens to have a wood stove.

This might be a more practical idea for anyone that has access to other organic waste to mix in (e.g. sawdust, crushed peanut shells, etc.), the retted paper (pulp) basically becomes a binder. I asked DH about using lawn clippings but his impression is that you would need to dry them first. Which seems counterintuitive since you are turning them into pulp first but the retting process is for binding, not for infusing the organic matter with moisture. If you didn't dry the clippings first the briquettes would probably take forever to dry. I am also wondering about the free mulch you can get at some town dumps but that would probably need to be spread out and dried first as well.

It occurs to me that someone that has made their own paper may have some insight into a more efficient way to do this.

If anyone is interested in some of the articles I found when researching this please PM me.

Also, if anyone actually tries this I'd love to hear about it. I'm tempted but we have a small house. It would be hard to carve out the space necessary to do this, except on a very small scale.

This might have the most appeal for anyone with way more time than money and access to lots and lots of junk mail, newspapers, etc.
~Cath

[2swangirls]

I put them in the compost pile.

[Monie]

Bunny cage. She loves to dig in it.

unfortunately, our shredder bit the dust. Anyone know how to recycle one of those? We might just take it to the place that collects old computers and tvs and see if they want it.

[jenoline]

You can also use it as packing material when shipping packages, if you ship much.