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Alternatives to shredding paper?

BirdOPrey5

BirdOPrey5

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We've had years and years of old papers to shred around here lately- already burned out one shredder.

It seems to me there has to be a better / faster way of destroying paper.

Yes, I know there are services I can call (and pay) to take the paper.

I also could just watch it get picked up by the trash and know it is probably safe- again, not the issue.

One thought is to fill a garbage can maybe with water and bleach maybe and pour in the papers and let it soak for a while... You think it would break down at some point?

Fire is unfortunately not an option here in NYC.

Washing machine? Seems like it would ruin it... same with dishwasher.
 
wct097

wct097

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Does it all really need shredding or is it just too much to go through and pull the sensitive stuff out?
 
neevo

neevo

Limey Hippo
Screw it up and put it in a compost. It will take a few weeks but will go in the end giving yo free compost for your garden
 
abqtj

abqtj

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BirdOPrey5 said:
We've had years and years of old papers to shred around here lately- already burned out one shredder.

It seems to me there has to be a better / faster way of destroying paper.

Yes, I know there are services I can call (and pay) to take the paper.

I also could just watch it get picked up by the trash and know it is probably safe- again, not the issue.

One thought is to fill a garbage can maybe with water and bleach maybe and pour in the papers and let it soak for a while... You think it would break down at some point?

Fire is unfortunately not an option here in NYC.

Washing machine? Seems like it would ruin it... same with dishwasher.
Click to expand...
Bleach should work.

That was our policy at Chili's for CC receipts. We stored, I think it was 6 months, hard copies on site. Then when rotating out it was policy to dump bleach/sanitizer on them when tossing. It certainly affects the printing on receipt paper. As for regular ink jet printing...maybe
 
BirdOPrey5

BirdOPrey5

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wct097 said:
Does it all really need shredding or is it just too much to go through and pull the sensitive stuff out?
Click to expand...
Surprisingly most of it needs shredding. I didn't open every envelope to pull out advertisements but bank statements inside them contain account numbers. Then years that my SS# was on every (weekly) paycheck stub. Mostly years of bank statements and paystubs for everyone in my family.

abqtj said:
As for regular ink jet printing...maybe
Click to expand...
I'd imagine most everything is laser printed.
 
eysdan

eysdan

WTF?
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Since you can't have burn barrel (which we use a lot), get a company like Iron Mountain to stop in and shred it for you.

In PA, there are places where you can drop off docs to be shredded. Not sure if it's free or not though.
 
S

skeptic

VIP
Just buy a good shredder and go easy on it. You don't have to cram 1/4" of paper through at a time and you don't have to run it 1/2 hour straight.
 
BirdOPrey5

BirdOPrey5

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A few boxes worth. Would probably take 6 to 8 hours of constant shredding at least, no counting having to empty and let it cool down from time to time.
 
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