Shredders

[Conchis]

Does everyone have one nowadays?

I find shredding quite overwhelming at times. The sheer amount of unwanted stuff that comes thorough the letter-box and then needs to be disposed of is hard to believe. I end up having 'dedicated shredding sessions', and I begrudge the time spent doing it and then emptying the box.

How important is it to shred, anyway? Can someone really steal your identity if you rip the stuff with your address on up and shove it in the bin?

I can see the point of shredding old bank statements and suchlike, but everything? Surely not....

[LMcD]

All our stuff - with anything containing sensitive material thoroughly torn into pieces - goes into the paper bank round the corner, and I don't think there are any rogues out there thin enough to squeeze through the gap at the top!

[Serial_Apologist]

I don't have a shredder. There was a cheap manually operated one available from supermarkets and stationers a few years ago. IME the consequences of shredding large quantities of paper and dumping it in the bins is that some of it ends up strewn down the driveway and in adjacent flower beds after the binpersons' visits. I've always thought it important for reasons of personal security to cut up or tear into small pieces any documentation relating to bank accounts and taxation, whether justifiably or not. As for general junk mail I just dump in the recycling bins exactly as it comes.

There is a Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Out form I was recommended by someone who says it has done the trick, which can be downloaded online. All you have to do is fill in your Name, Signature and Date of signing, and post, free of charge. Sadly I forgot to note down the link

[oddoneout]

Does everyone have one nowadays?

I find shredding quite overwhelming at times. The sheer amount of unwanted stuff that comes thorough the letter-box and then needs to be disposed of is hard to believe. I end up having 'dedicated shredding sessions', and I begrudge the time spent doing it and then emptying the box.

How important is it to shred, anyway? Can someone really steal your identity if you rip the stuff with your address on up and shove it in the bin?

I can see the point of shredding old bank statements and suchlike, but everything? Surely not....

I don't like the thought of anyone getting my details from such things so like you I have shredding sessions, but I don't have that much to deal with - it takes quite while to fill the shredder bin with material to be dealt with. If it's unwanted can you not stop it coming? The advent of GDPR means that companies have to take more notice of requests to remove names from mailing lists etc.
The shreddings are useful on the compost heap and some of the bigger stuff like bank statements gets used to light the woodburner.

[pastoralguy]

I too begrudge the time dedicated to shredding so I have a 'burning session' every now and again in the back garden.

[oddoneout]

All our stuff - with anything containing sensitive material thoroughly torn into pieces - goes into the paper bank round the corner, and I don't think there are any rogues out there thin enough to squeeze through the gap at the top!

No, but what happens when it's all tipped out for sorting at a depot?
To be fair I think the real risk is to those who chuck things like utility bills etc in their household bins 'as is', ready for someone to pull out for nefarious and/or lucrative purposes. Of course that habit has its positive side, being useful for those dealing with flytipping...

[Dave2002]

We used to have a shredder, but in the end the volume of stuff to shred overwhelmed it, and it gave up the ghost. I wondered about getting a new one, but never did. A bit later with much more material to get rid of, I simply used an incinerator in the garden, and now since we have smaller amounts of paper to get rid of it can simply be put on an open fire.

[MrGongGong]

Compost
worms or other methods
work fine

[Dave2002]

Wormeries - great for generating orchid "food" - really good, and orchids did very well on the "juice". Unfortunately ours stopped working when we went on holiday, and inadvertently the tap was left open. When we returned there were 30-40 dead worms on the kitchen floor.

Sadly we never restarted the experiment.

[Anastasius]

I'll rip off anything that might identify account numbers but the rest goes in the recycling bin. Even bank statements because without the sort code and account number they are useless. I'll also recycle things with my name and address on as that is on public record already but will rip out the bits with personal ID details such as NHS number, credit card number etc.

Else it goes on the fire.

[Pianorak]

I too begrudge the time dedicated to shredding so I have a 'burning session' every now and again in the back garden.

Great minds . . . ?

[cloughie]

Great minds . . . ?

Environmentally is shredding better than burning?

[Dave2002]

Environmentally is shredding better than burning?

Not necessarily. Depends on volume of material to dispose of, and where you live, and maybe also if you ever use open fires or a stove. Using a garden incinerator once a year is probably not too damaging, and the petrol consumption if you take the shredded paper down to the dump or recycling centre could actually be more damaging.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Good point (#12). I was forced to get a cross cut shredder when I was a civil servant based and working at home. About 7 sheets a time, it was so slow, a total waste of time. I made at least monthly visits to HQ, so I took care in transit and it went into their bin for secure shredding. When I retired, I gave the shredder away.

My own financial papers - I seem to get buried in the stuff.

Anything with sensitive or many account numbers, personal details get burnt. One account / NI number - that bit ripped out and into compost bin andf the rest into recycling along with pro forma verbeage pages of letters or reports. Other financial papers with info but nothing amounting to a breach of security I stack up into a pile at least 6 inches high. I diagonally slice the papers into 5 strips with a stanley knife, carefully separating the 5 into piles. Then its each slice into a fortnightly recycling box, or the supermarket (covered) paper recycling skip - i.e. one pile of the strips at a time.

But I worry about my bank account details - I've had it for 28 years, so it must be out there on fraudster's lists, yet it would be so disruptive to change it.