Shredded receipts, etc - recycling or landfill

[Black Rose]

Yesterday I had a shredfest to clean up the mess of debit and credit card receipts as well as documents with our name and address on them that I had set aside to be shredded.

I ran everything through a crosscut paper shredder and now I need to figure out how to dispose of the shredded receipts.

The options available to me are to put it out with the paper recycling or send it to the landfill.

The landfill does have one of those Plasco incinerators but I don't know how much of the trash gets incinerated.

What do you folks do with shredded receipts?

 

[DaFABRICATA]

BURN EM!:devil:

 

[jch79]

I make sure all the numbers are shredded, and then recycle 'em. I ain't afraid.
:thumbsup: john

 

[Greta]

Contact your local Humane Society and see if they can use some "litter".

 

[Monocrom]

BURN EM!:devil:

+1

If you have a Mag623, put it to some good use! :twothumbs

 

[ElectronGuru]

Depends on the paper. Many registers use thermal or coated paper to save on ink. This shiny paper does not recycle or biodegrade well. Plain/uncoated paper, no problem.

Sorting the strips into two piles at this point...

 

[Illum]

fireplace...if they're wet from coffee or what not, draw some lint off your dryer filter and that should do it.

Fireplace does a good job for all articles of confidentiality:...just remember to mix the ash up a bit when your done. I can burn a whole sheet of newspaper and still be able to read the dates off of it if left untouched:shrug:

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

Sorting the strips into two piles at this point...

I agree. You need to go ahead and sort the strips into seperate piles. Receipts in one, paper in other. Get back to us when you're finished

But yeah, I used to just burn 'em.

 

[Black Rose]

Thanks for the feedback folks.

Burning them myself is not an option since we have no fireplace or fire pit.

The shredded stuff is regular paper and thermal paper, probably a 50/50 mix.

Sorting it into thermal and paper at this point is definitely out of the question.

 

[qip]

soak in water then smudge out the sensitive info

 

[nfetterly]

Having been production mgr & technical mgr in a recycle (deink) plant - recycle. The bit of thermal paper there isn't going to be a big problem - given tonnages between 100 tpd & 800 tpd going into these plants.

Great place to use flashlights.

You wouldn't believe some of the stuff coming into these plants. The first sets of pilot plant trials I went on there was micro fiche with "authorized signatures" from the Bank Of Canada on them (if I remember correctly). Then there are other things that I have seen where I think - how does that get thrown out with office waste paper???

 

[Jay R]

All mine go on the compost heap. Turns into nice fresh veg the next year.

 

[gswitter]

Most of our waste paper (and food scraps) goes in our worm bin, and the bin we maintain for my daughter's school.

 

[RA40]

I put our shredded stuff in the recycle bin for the waste collectors to handle now. Your choice of recycling though.

Before we had individual waste pick-up/recycling, I used to mix the shredded stuff with the lawn clippings, dog land mines. After about a day or so, retrieving that info would be a challenge with the wet soggy green stinky mess.

 

[brucec]

I'm confused as to if you are trying to avoid adding waste to a landfill by recycling or just concerned about personal information getting into the wrong hands. I think all "paper", thermal or normal, can go into a recycle bin. For safeguarding personal information, I usually just shred it. For sensitive stuff, I'll mix up the shreds and throw them out in different batches on different days. For credit cards, I'll cut them up and throw away half at work and half at home. I hate those blank checks that they send with credit cards...

 

[Yucca Patrol]

Nobody in their right mind is going to play the million puzzle piece game when they can just steal the personal information out of your neighbor's garbage can. Just toss or recycle or whatever you feel is best. The advice to add a little water is an easy and safe bet if you still feel insecure.

Me? I burn mine when I go camping. When soaked with my magic mystery fire water, it really helps start a bonfire.

 

[brucec]

The advice to add a little water is an easy and safe bet if you still feel insecure.

Actually, I think shrimp or clam shells are an excellent medium for the disposal of sensitive document shreds.

 

[rodfran]

I use a quality cross-cut shredder. My city picks up recycling or I can walk to a nearby school that will recycle(also takes magazines, cardboard ).
It will be wasted in a landfill. At least with recycling it may be reused in some manner.
With two sources for recycling and my composting,
my garbage output is next to nothing.

 

[Black Rose]

FYI - I put the shredded items out with the paper/cardboard recycling.

 

[yuandrew]