shredded paper- best use for?

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shredded paper- best use for?
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Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 05 10:00 am Post subject:
Cheers. Compost production to rise then Peter.

Leanne

Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 55
Location: somerset

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 05 3:07 pm Post subject:

I bought one about 16 months ago, I made bricks out of newsprint throughout last spring and summer, time allowing and by winter i had about 100 made, which i burned alongside wood coal etc. i was pleased with the results, and feel it did make a difference to fuel costs. on average each block burns for around an hour, but if poked or disturbed, they break up quicker and burn out sooner, so best left alone. i got mine from the green shop (www.greenshop.co.uk) hope this helps Leanne

snootycat

Joined: 17 May 2005
Posts: 9

Posted: Thu May 19, 05 7:13 am Post subject:

I got mine from the daily mail shop for �19.99. I dont have a coal fire myself. The brickettes took a while to make and I found that they worked best with newspaper. My daughter moaned about them a bit, said they produced a lot of ash. For some reason they tended to emit a blue flame! Since then I have heard that they work better if you mix it with sawdust, but have not tried it yet as my daughter is moving to a new house without a coal fire! But I will try it when I get my own fireplace installed sometime this year. This is my first post to this site and I like it a lot!
Pam
snootycat

Blacksmith

Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 5025
Location: Berkshire

Posted: Thu May 19, 05 7:47 am Post subject:
The glossy coating on cardboard is clay. The paste used in most corrugated board is made from maize or corn starch, water and minute ammounts of caustic soda and acticide. I mix all my lawn cuttings with shredded news paper, stops them becoming a slimy mess in the compost heap. Dave

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Thu May 19, 05 7:51 am Post subject:
Glad this topic has resurfaced again (strange how it happens). I wanted to ask whether anyone knew of any hand-powered paper shredders. I saw a very samll one (receipt size) in a Betterware catalogue for 2.99, but I wonder if there is somehting slightly larger out there? Peter.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22790
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu May 19, 05 9:04 am Post subject:
You can get them A4 size, but they only take one sheet at a time. The best place to look is market stalls and general hardware shops. I had one a couple of years back. It worked OK for a while, but gradually all the teeth broke off, rendering it useless.

cede

Joined: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 62
Location: surrey

Posted: Thu May 19, 05 9:10 am Post subject:
we have a fellowes electric one that can take 4 pieces of paper at a time - about �30 i think. before that we had a hand crank machine but it was a case of buy cheap and buy twice i'm afraid - it didn't last 6 months!

illy
Guest

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 05 2:40 pm Post subject: Re: shredded paper- best use for?

sally_in_wales wrote:

Been shredding all my reject printer paper, old letters and so on. Just wondering whether its best to compost this given that there is a fair bit of ink on some of it, or squash it into briquettes for the woodburner (got one of those gadgets for squeezing newspaper into blocks). Any top tips?

where do you get one of those gagets for squeezing newspaper ???

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42223
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 05 2:46 pm Post subject:
CAT sell them, amongst other people. Or there's a link at the bottom of the wood-burning stove article to plans for a DIY version. Having bought one, I'll make my own next time.

illy
Guest

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 05 3:01 pm Post subject: cat

sean wrote:

CAT sell them, amongst other people. Or there's a link at the bottom of the wood-burning stove article to plans for a DIY version. Having bought one, I'll make my own next time.

I just looked up the website - have you got the one that requires no prior wetting ??? how does it work ??? do the logs burn well ???

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42223
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 05 3:03 pm Post subject:
No, the 'no prior wetting' version is new to me. I do the papier mache versions which burn fine, very hot though so best to mix some real wood in too. Drying the 'logs' takes ages so now is the time to be building up a store of them.

illy
Guest

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 05 3:06 pm Post subject:
Thanks Sean !!!! you have been a great help

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42223
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 05 3:10 pm Post subject:
It's not often anyone says that. My pleasure. Why not join in by the way, registration costs nothing.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45723
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 05 3:11 pm Post subject:
Your surname's not Nastase is it Illy?

Trev

Joined: 09 Sep 2005
Posts: 69
Location: Wokingham DC, Berkshire

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 05 1:24 pm Post subject:

[quote="mochyn"]... could use any paper or card that didn't have plastic coating on it. That means that the windows in most envelopes are out, ...[/quote]

I just rip the Callahan windowed envelopes in half and scrunch them into the compost heap - on the assumption that Glassine windows will compost. A few months later I pick the leftover windows out of the compost while I'm riddling it. 1/2 ton of riddled compost later I've got a pocket full of plastic for the bin - on the assumption that Tricite can't be recycled.

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