Composting shredded paper

Alot of people are concerned about ID theft and so they shred all their correspondance and bills. Of course ID theft is a very serious matter and I can understand why people would want to protect their information. But I do wonder sometimes why people spend their time shredding entire documents when its only the first page which has an address or bank number on it!

Personally I do my banking on-line so I never get bank statements, but if I ever get the odd private letter I have a pretty secure backyard system; my compost bin! I challenge any would be ID theif to fish through my mouldy teabags and rotten veg peelings to find the scrunched up phone bills if they really want to!

The Council wont collect shredded paper with the recycling because:

• Shredding paper weakens it - the fibre length decreases and so the recycled product you make from it is like toilet tissue it has no wet strength and cannot be used for newspaper
• Its hard to collect - it could cause problems at the kerbside in particular becoming windblown and creating litter and complaints
• Its hard to process - it could pose problems at the paper mill clogging up the rollers and again if blows all over the place creating litter and possible fire hazard issues

Composting documents is not only a great way to ensure they don't fall into the wrong hands though it really does help make good compost. Paper generally is a good source of Carbon for your compost heap, it breaks down really well and helps soak up excess moisture if the compost heap gets too wet.

In particular you may find if you generate alot of kitchen waste this is incredibly useful resource to help keep the compost heap balanced. 

I know a few folk who reuse their shredded paper as bedding for the kids pets such as hamsters and even when its been used that is ok to compost too. The simple rule is, so long as the pets are vegetarian then their bedding is really good to compost. You should never composting waste from carnivores like dogs muck or cat litter because of the harmful bacteria present.