# Shredded Personal Paper Document Disposal: Best Practice **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746 "2010-01-13T02:47:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/1 "2010-01-13T02:47:01Z")
What is the best (cost effective) means of disposing of one’s own shredded personal paper documents? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/2 "2010-01-13T02:56:47Z")
Got a fireplace? ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/3 "2010-01-13T02:58:19Z")
We put our paper shreddings (cross cut) in the compost. With the other stuff we put in there, you’d have to **really** want to get to know us. ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/4 "2010-01-13T03:08:41Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Got a fireplace? Thanks for the great idea, but no, regrettably, I don’t. Wonder if any of my friends do? ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/5 "2010-01-13T03:11:09Z")
> [@Scruff](#): > > We put our paper shreddings (cross cut) in the compost. > With the other stuff we put in there, you’d have to **really** want to get to know us. killer idea you guys are smart if i only had a compost pile ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/6 "2010-01-13T03:11:49Z")
After I shred documents (using a cross-cut shredder), I put them in the regular garbage and drop them down the trash chute of my apartment building. If you’re already shredding your documents, I can’t imagine what else you’d need to do. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/7 "2010-01-13T03:27:18Z")
“Wetting” the sogging heap helps.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/8 "2010-01-13T05:40:25Z")
Check with your local humane society, animal shelter, or dog pound – many of them use shredded paper in their pens, and will appreciate donations of such material. ---
**Author:** ![bink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@bink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bink)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/9 "2010-01-13T07:11:40Z")
I use mine in the worm bin. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/10 "2010-01-13T15:26:57Z")
I use a chimney-style charcoal lighter that normally uses newspaper to start the fire in my grill. Shredded paper isn’t quite as good as newspaper, but I use some of it there. I also use some to start fires in my fireplace. There is also a very cool device out there on the Internet that will compress the shredded paper into a “log” for burning in a fireplace instead of wood. I haven’t tried this, but am very tempted. The rest gets recycled with my green waste. (It can’t be recycled with other paper where I live). Assuming you have a decent cross-cut shredder, there’s very little risk of someone trying to piece things together. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/11 "2010-01-13T17:34:01Z")
> [@Hilary\_Algar](#): > > What is the best (cost effective) means of disposing of one’s own shredded personal paper documents? If you have a cross-cut shredder you could mix the shredded documents half and half with shop-bought cat litter, thus reducing your expenditure on said cat litter by 50 percent. This information is without value unless you have a cat, or unless you entertain cats on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/12 "2010-01-13T17:40:09Z")
My dad uses shredded paper in his flowerbeds. ---
**Author:** ![Silverstreak\_Wonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Silverstreak\_Wonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silverstreak_Wonder)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/13 "2010-01-13T17:49:55Z")
I use a BBQ grill and burn what is not needed after tax time is over. That is 100 percent safe, no one will get any info from it, and it even saves landfill space. ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/14 "2010-01-13T17:54:37Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > After I shred documents (using a cross-cut shredder), I put them in the regular garbage and drop them down the trash chute of my apartment building. > > If you’re already shredding your documents, I can’t imagine what else you’d need to do. Dewey Finn: With all due respect, to the paranoid, nothing is quite safe enough. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/15 "2010-01-13T18:07:41Z")
Seriously? I’m pretty paranoid (I already shred _everything_ that I throw out that has my name on it) and I don’t think it’s possible to get much useful information from the crosscut shreds. But Staples does sell a couple of shredders that they call “micro cut” with shreds that are 2/32" X 12/32" instead of the 5/32" x 1 18/32" size of the shreds from a cross cut shredder. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/16 "2010-01-13T21:52:31Z")
Interesting to know that in Iran after the Americans left the embassy shredded the documents using the cross cut method and it seems the Iranians spent years putting the pieces back together again. So it’s possible to do that but unless you got a lot of time on your hands who would do this? I’d say burning is the only 100% method of doing it, and there’s probably someone who could figure out a way to put the ashes back together 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/17 "2010-01-13T22:04:21Z")
Actually, the Wikipedia [article on the Iranian hostage crisis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_hostage_crisis) links to an [image](http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/iran/irdoc.html) of one of the reassembled pages, which was clearly shredded using a strip-cut shredder. ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/18 "2010-01-14T03:05:59Z")
> [@Hilary\_Algar](#): > > What is the best (cost effective) means of disposing of one’s own shredded personal paper documents? I use a cross-cut shredder and put the result into recycling. You could always save those postage-paid envelopes you occasionally get from mail solicitations and mail the shreddings in retaliation for being spammed. Or, shred everything, shake up the output bin, then drive around with the output bin and dump equal parts into five or six separate recycling or trash bins in different parts of your neighborhood. Whoever tried to reassemble your documents would have to dig around a _lot_. Two words: hydrochloric acid. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/19 "2010-01-14T04:42:22Z")
I took several bags’ worth of shredded paper from an office where I used to work and used it as packing material for a cross-country move. I don’t remember how we disposed of it once we unpacked, but I think most of it went into the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746/20 "2010-01-14T15:49:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Seriously? Dewey Finn: On a bad day, yes, very, very seriously. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shredded-personal-paper-document-disposal-best-practice/524746.md?page=2)