Green Office: recycle your shredded paper
I hate shredding files. It’s noisy. And boring. But with today’s climate of identity theft, it’s a must. And you still have to get rid of the paper shreds, right?
Make sure you recycle your paper shreds. At minimum, toss them in the recycle bin. (Please use a cross-cut shredder that makes tiny pieces of paper – for your confidentiality!) There are other creative ways to use those tiny bits of paper.
Packing
Just last week I need to ship a package. Forget styrofoam peanuts or other non-green items. Use your paper shreds! It was the perfect cushion, and it didn’t cost me anything extra.
Play
Have a small child who’s past putting things in his/her mouth? Let them play with a small amount of the paper. If they scatter it, it’s easily vacuumed. They can put it in containers and practice moving it from cup to cup. Or in a toy dumptruck – easier to clean than sand or dirt, right?
Nesting
Have any birds, hamsters, or bunnies? Could they use it to make a nest or line their cages? (I haven’t checked safety elements on this one – it’s just a quick idea.)
Storage
Need to store breakables for a bit? We’re rearranging things so I can move my desk. I took down a few nicknacks and will be storing them until we’re done. Just like when I shipped a package, it was perfect for cushioning.
I’m sure there are many other ways of using your shredded paper, too. Don’t just toss it into a landfill. Think about how you can reuse it a bit and make your small business a tiny bit greener.
Have you thought of ways you can recycle shredded paper?
Image: morgueFile
3 Comments
You may want to check with your recycling facility. Not all recycling companies accept shredded paper as some machines are clogged by such shreds.
Thanks for visiting My Organized Biz and leaving your comment. It is a good idea to check and see if your recycling facility accepts shredded paper and how they want it packaged.
At our facility, they want it bagged or boxed, not tossed into the paper collection or even the general trash loose. Then it flies all over the place. So since it can be recycled with the regular paper and non cardboard boxes, we package it in paper bags or cereal boxes. If you toss it in with the regular trash, at least tie it into a plastic bag.
[...] Murray wrote a former post, Green Office: Recycle Your Shredded Office, and detailed ways to use this again as well as tossing the paper into a [...]