The holidays are approaching, businesses are wrapping up year-end tasks, and perhaps, like us, you’re thinking about what you can do a little better in the new year — like catching up on paper shredding at home. Yet unlike when you work with a shredding company for your business documents, dealing with at-home shredding can be a little tricky.
Did you know that, in most cities, shredded paper from home can’t be sent out with your everyday recycling? It takes a little extra effort to find places to recycle shredded paper, and unfortunately, many individuals still end up throwing the paper out with the trash. That’s a lot of paper that ends up wasted, but what if you can extend the life of that paper a little longer and perhaps save yourself from purchasing other products? With that in mind, we’ve compiled a few fun ways you can repurpose shredded paper this holiday season.
1. Spice Up Your Gift Wrapping
Save yourself some money on tissue paper or packing paper and fill those gift bags, boxes, and baskets with shredded paper to protect fragile items or create a sense of whimsy with your gifts. What kid wouldn’t like having to dig through a pile of shredding to uncover their new toy? It also serves as great packing material when mailing gifts to family and friends who are far away. Bonus points if you have multiple colors of paper intermixed in the shredding.
2. Get Crafty with Homemade Holiday Decor
Make a date with family or friends to repurpose shredding into fun holiday decorations. Fill a clear, empty ornament with colorful shredded paper and decorate the outside. Or use shredding to create paper-mache ornaments, centerpieces, or special gift boxes for loved ones. All it takes is a little flour and water mixed in equal parts and voilà, the opportunities are endless! You can even buy an at-home paper making kit and repurpose the shredding into homemade paper for cards and gifts.
3. Make it Snow
Need fake snow for indoor activities? Need confetti? Simply cut your shredded white paper into smaller pieces and you’ve got snow! Mix it in with home decorations, use it for parties or even theatrical productions, or put on your winter gear and toss it in the air for a snowy photoshoot.
4. Give it Back to the Earth
Mix the paper in with your leftover food scraps from holiday dinners for composting. This is one of the best ways you can repurpose shredded paper at home and help the environment. Make sure you don’t include any paper that is coated or glossy. Don’t have a compost bin at home? Find out if any of your neighbors do and see if you can contribute some of your paper. Shredded paper also works well as mulch and can be mixed into the dirt around trees and in gardens where it can decompose and help feed your plants.
Whether you’re working to minimize paper use at home or repurpose the paper you’ve shredded, know that every effort makes a difference to help the environment.
Interested in learning more about the shredding services Sun City offers for businesses? Contact us today!