Shredded paper in green bin

Sarsfield

I was sure this question was asked recently but can't find it.

Is shredded paper accepted in green bins? I live in an apartment so composting/brown bin isn't an option.

mike65

Don't think so.

Mike.

Alun

I emailed Greenstar (my refuse company here in Bray) recently on this very matter and was told that not only is it perfectly OK, but to just put it in there with all the other stuff and NOT to put it in a plastic bag first.

I personally would have thought it made more sense to put it in a clear plastic bin bag so that the contents are easily discernible,and for them to remove the paper from the bag during sorting than have to contend with it all being mixed up with all the other contents, but there you go!

Other refuse companies may have other policies though.

Archeron

Not relevant from a home point of view, but in our office, we shred all our office documents, and then use the full bags as packaging material for shipping products to customers. Cuts down on our requirement for purchasing packaging materials as well.

Sarsfield

Alun wrote:

I emailed Greenstar (my refuse company here in Bray) recently on this very matter and was told that not only is it perfectly OK, but to just put it in there with all the other stuff and NOT to put it in a plastic bag first.

Oxigen says much the same. I got this email reply from them today.

Hi Sarsfield,

Yes we can accept shredded paper in the green bin.

Regards etc.

Which is good news!

2 stroke

I personally would have thought it made more sense to put it in a clear plastic bin bag so that the contents are easily discernible,and for them to remove the paper from the bag during sorting than have to contend with it all being mixed up with all the other contents, but there you go!

Just to demystify you, there aren't 10 million people employed sorting your waste by hand. The majority of the work is automated. The first stage would include a giant blower which would seperate flimsy material from heavier waste. I saw a prototype machine operating a few years ago which could fairly accuratly seperate loose paper and plastic, mineral bottles and alu cans with air alone. The loose paper and plastic was then sprayed with a fine mist and the paper droped out, finaly a magnetic field seperated metal foil from plastic. your plastic bag would have to be manualy emptied and returned to stage 1

davros

We were discussing this recently in the office. We have no recycling bin for paper, only a to-be-shredded bin. Many years ago, I heard that shredded paper was no use for recycling since the chopped-up fibres are not long enough to turn back into paper again.

Has something changed since then or is there another use for shredded paper besides making new paper? And would it be useful for us to have a recycling bin for documents that do not need to be shredded?

r3nu4l

Shredded paper can be used to make insulation, although the paper is packed to become a solid ball and treated to make it fire resistant...not sure how green the process is!

Interestingly, I recently moved from Cambridge to Bury St Edmunds and in both places shredded paper had to go into the regular waste for landfill!! :eek: That really annoys me because I shred so much of my paper at home. Intact paper can go into the recycling bin but not shredded :mad:

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.aboutsavingheat.com/cellulose.html

Cellulose insulation is made from recycled wood fiber, primarily newspaper. One hundred pounds of cellulose insulation contains 80 to 85 pounds of recycled newsprint. The remainder is made up of Borax and Boric acid, both non-toxic fire retardants.
...

Embodied energy is the energy consumed in producing products. Mineral insulation comes from furnaces that gulp natural gas to melt sand, slag, or rock and fiberglass insulation comes from finely spun glass.
...
Fiberglass, rock wool, and plastic insulation may have from 50 to over 200 times more embodied energy than cellulose. By choosing cellulose insulation, you are not only saving money at home but are also decreasing our overall energy demand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boric_acid

ArthurDent

good to know, I had thought not recyclable too

CubicleDweller

Hi all - found this thread in Google, and thought I'd post this information in case it's useful to someone in the future...

I live in Dublin, and have a green bin provided by Oxigen. I rang them (01 4600999) to know if shredded paper could be put in the bin. Spoke to a very helpful lady, who initially said something like "paper is fine, you can put that in the green bin". When I asked if I should put it inside a plastic bag, she went away to check; then she came back and suggested that it would be better to put it in a paper bag - I guess plastic bags are a problem.

So, it seems like the best option may be to put your shredded paper into paper bags and put those in the green bin - if you have an Oxigen one, at least.

Sarsfield

I've taken to putting some of my shredded paper in paper bags and stuffing it in the freezer. Apparently it's most energy efficient to keep a freezer full and paper is the one of the best freezer fillers.

Right or wrong?

10-10-20

Correct.
The paper will retain the cold when you open the door.

Aldini98

Is this the most ridiculous thread ever ? Shredded Paper is still paper !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BendiBus

Aldini98 wrote:

Is this the most ridiculous thread ever ? Shredded Paper is still paper !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would imagine the question arises due to the need to separate different types of recyclable waste. Shredded paper gets stuck to everything, inside everything etc. and so may cause problems during separation.

But congratulations on providing the most ridiculous post of the thread

davros

Aldini98 wrote:

Shredded Paper is still paper !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The difference is that the paper's fibres have been chopped into small lengths and can't be reconstituted into full sheets of paper again.

2 stroke

davros wrote:

The difference is that the paper's fibres have been chopped into small lengths and can't be reconstituted into full sheets of paper again.

Then make half sheets.