So, I throw out about 1 LARGE kitchen trash bag of shredded paper every ~2 weeks. I believe that's 33 gallons of shredded paper, it's very heavy.

I am looking for things I can do with this paper... Anyone have any ideas? I hate getting rid of it, and would love to utilize it for something.

I was thinking fire-logs but I don't think the paper would be healthy to breath and probabl clog my chimney too.

Anyone have any ideas?

Compost it or use it as mulch in a garden. Heck, send it to me and I'll use it as mulch!

Or maybe make the world's largest paper mache duck?

-Blast

Lots of recycling centers will take shredded paper. Won't pay for it, but at least they will take it off your hands...

Blast - I shred envelopes too, and some have plastic. I don't think it would work to good in a garden ???

OBG - I recycle it curb side. I just meant I would like to `keep` it and utilize it instead of giving it away. Probably not going to find much use unless I only shred paper and not plastic items.

-Todd

Our area has a freecycling network (http://www.freecycle.org/). Check in there and see if your area has one and ask if anyone wants your shredded paper. Many people use it for their pet rodents, bedding for larger pets (cats, dogs), some shelters may want shredded paper for their pets.

It works for raising earthworms and for compost. You can buy logmakers and use them to compress your shredded paper into fireplace logs.

You have to be careful, though, as shredded paper is a huge magnet for rodents, silverfish, and other creatures we don't like in the house.

"...I just meant I would like to `keep` it..."

Oops, my booboo...

I did some googling, and found this. If it will work with newpaper, maybe it will work with all of your junk paper...

Thanks OBG!

According to this site:
http://www.ecocycle.org/faq/shred.cfm
Shredded paper makes a poor choice for recycling the paper, interesting.

It seems the most popular usages are packaging, gardens (non-glossy), and rabit/animal cages.

Another usage is to make your own hobo pillows or insulation with it... this could be dangerous and useful!

I guess if I got some animals it could go in the bottom of their cage.

My suggestion was going to be to use it for packaging when mailing things. I know not everyone does a lot of mailing but me living in Japan and my family in the states I mail a lot of packages and I always use my shredded paper for stabilizing and protecting whatever I might be mailing.

Thanks, Todd, that link was very informative since I shred and recycle the bits. That's a bummer that recycled shredded paper often just ends up in landfill anyway. Fortunately, I was already intuitively doing what the site suggested--just shredding the parts of documents with personal info and leaving the rest of the paper intact.

Is there another hobby of yours that we should know about, Blast? On second thought, I'd rather not know!

By the way, Todd, is this paper shredded lengthwise or crosscut? Seems like there would be fewer uses for the tiny paper bits from a crosscut shredder.

The only thing I can think of to use shredded paper is as a fire starter. Mixed with some petrolium jelly or wax I bet it would burn great.

A big wad of shredded paper would work great to light charcoal for the BBQ in a chimney starter.

Blast could use it to mold a paper mache kayak to float the borderlands!!!!

Could it be used at an animal shelter to line the bottom of cages?
kmat

Mine are very tiny pieces. Not long strips.
If I shipped with this stuff someone would be very upset.

Can you eliminate it at the source, I get and use very little paper these days between paperless bills and statements.

Nope.

I do mostly paperless billing but these are business documents, advertisements/junk, and stuff I can't eliminate.

If you want to save paper, you should be composting, too. Put them together. Paper provides necessary carbon in a compost pile. You can layer it (fairly thick layers, like 6") with moist stuff like fresh grass clippings, kitchen food waste, and green weeds (nitrogen). Any time your compost stinks, it means you've got too high of a percentage of greens/nitrogen, and need to add more carbon, like shredded paper, straw, sawdust, etc.

Sue

Mix with mud and you have a nice adobe. Adobe is resistant to wind, radiation, fire and bullets. Add a little latex binder to the mix and it is also pretty resistant to water.

Shredded paper is a good source of carbonaceous bulk for worm farming. Gives the critters somewhere to crawl. Keeps the mix from getting too wet.

Or you can use it in your composting toilet.

The plastic isn't a problem for composting. It just give the soil bulk. It helps keep it well aerated and prevents packing. Bacteria, fungi and worms just eat around it. Not a problem.

Great information. I will start storing it for composting.

-Todd