Can I recycle shred?

“Getting paper shreds from the paper shredder to the recycling center cleanly, neatly and responsibly takes some effort. The first step is to contact your local recycling pick-up company and ask if they pick up shredded paper and how it should be packaged.

Whether you can recycle shredded paper depends on where you live and how your waste paper is recycled. Some community recycling programs will pick up shredded paper if it is placed securely in a paper bag. Other towns and garbage/recycling companies refuse to pick up paper shreds.”

Suite 101

It makes great bedding for pets, you can compost it, and my local council accept it for recycling along with un-shredded paper.

I add it to my compost box; it’s decomposed quite nicely.

I thought about composting, but I don’t know what’s in the paper or ink. I’d worry about bleaches or toxic ink components.

There’s a good discussion here about composting shredded paper. It’s perfectly safe.

My recycling company takes it. They prefer it be bagged to decrease the mess. Call your trash/recycling company and find out.

Anywhere that takes paper for recycling will accept it. They actually prefer it shredded – it saves them the first stage of the recycling process.