To Shred or Not to Shred

Sometimes you have to shred a piece of paper or two — no one wants bank statements and credit card bills falling into the wrong hands intact. But have you ever considered how the simple act of shredding might effect its ability to be recycled? I hadn’t ever really considered it, to be honest, but Rocky Mountain News’ “ASK!” column is on the job to let us know if shredded paper can be recycled as easy as the big pieces.

It can, but a few issues make it trickier than recycling intact paper, said Charlotte Pitt of Denver Recycles. First, shredded paper thrown loosely by homeowners into outdoor bins can fall out and contribute to litter. Also, during sorting at the recycling plant, small bits of paper can slip through the screens and end up as trash.

Additionally, bigger sheets of paper are easier to recycle and produce a higher-quality product because of the longer paper fibers. But “shred” that’s bundled together can be recycled.

Pitt suggests that homeowners limit what they shred – the credit-card application form that comes in the mail but not the envelopes and other printed matter, for example – and put the shred in brown paper bags (which are recyclable) marked “shredded paper.”

Certainly good to know! So remember: shred what you have to, but as for everything else, please try to leave it intact. The environment will thank you for it!

Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 am and is filed under The Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.