Can you Recycle Shredded Office Paper?

Here’s a question from one of our readers that came in via email:

“I shred my personal documents in a paper shredder, which collects in a plastic bag. Since you’re not supposed to put plastic bags in the bin, should you just dump the shredded material loosely in the recycling bin?”

In short, no.

According to Zero Waste and Litter Director Nic Esposito, shredded paper is too small to get sorted properly at the MRF.

“Unless it’s a specialty shredded paper recycler, it’s not getting recycled because the shredded paper in single stream is getting mixed with the crushed glass.”

So what can you do with shredded paper? The better move is using it for composting as a brown material.

Photo by Tomoe Steineck on Unsplash