Can you recycle shredded paper?
I’ve been conducting lectures on solid waste management for many years. Occasionally, I also discuss paper recycling in particular, especially the business side of it. One of the common questions that always crop up is whether shredded paper is recyclable and if it has monetary value.
Generally, shredded paper is still paper, so it can be recycled except in few instances. Ultra-thin shredded paper, and those cut to very small squares have no commercial value. Very little paper fibers, if any, can be recovered from these shredded material. Handling is also difficult.
There are disadvantages to shredding paper. First, the process of shredding paper breaks down the strength of its
natural fibers, which affects its value and recyclability. The bigger the shred, the better. Second, once paper products have been shredded they can’t be sorted into different paper grades. Lastly, if paper is shredded, it is bulky. It increases transportation and storage cost.
The value of the different types of scrap paper
Grief over the recent death of my younger brother, who had looked up to me as second father, somehow got into my writing through a significant error in my last column regarding the Marian apparitions in Garabandal, Spain in the 1960s. It was in the paragraph on the probable date of the Great Miracle prophesied by the Blessed Mother. Instead of the Miracle, I wrongly referred to the Warning which,
Garabandal visionaries had said, would happen before the Miracle no more than a year apart.
The error elicited outrage from Mr. Glenn Hudson of Massapequa, New York and administrator of the Facebook group The Message of Garabandal, and an acquaintance of Garabandal visionary Conchita.
He wanted me to rewrite the erroneous paragraph as follows:
"Shifting to the Garabandal apparitions: in one of my recent columns, I quoted some researchers theorizing that the prophesied “Great Miracle”, which the Blessed Mother said would happen on a Thursday evening 8:30pm