Shredded files and machinery

I must comment on Trevor Mytton's letter (Shredding untruths) about the local council collecting shredded paper via the kerbside scheme.

Usually there are reasons why councils do not collect shredded paper and the most common are that the equipment used to put the paper in on collection is not suitable for shredded paper (it blows out of the container and causes a mess), and the machinery used for dealing with non-shredded paper becomes clogged when shredded paper is put in it.

Some councils do collect it, but usually separately from other paper. The relatively small amounts from private houses often makes such collections too expensive.

Shredded paper can be recycled and often is when collected commercially in larger quantities. Commercial firms dealing with confidential papers, such as banks and others, should have their paper professionally shredded and recycled.

Many companies provide this service - see Yellow Pages. Small amounts from homes can be composted, used for fire lighting, etc.

But why shred? In our house, if I want to recycle any paper with confidential information on it, I tear the paper through the confidential part and dispose of each bit separately. In this way nobody rummaging through my papers finds anything useful.

Richard Camp, Wellington