Home shredding = waste

There have been more reports of Australian Ewaste illegally dumped overseas. #WaronWaste highlighted the same issue.

Ewaste isn't just a problem for computers, devices and phones. An increasing amount of appliance waste ends up in Australian landfills. Worse, some of it goes overseas.

Each discarded appliance wastes the valuable resources that went into making it, including precious metals like copper and gold. It also represents embedded energy and embedded carbon emissions. If it's dumped in a poorly managed landfill, it can also leach out toxic chemicals that affect nearby people, water and wildlife.

Australia tosses out 700,000 tonnes of Ewaste each year. The average Australian household generates 73 kilograms alone. It's enough to make you reconsider a cheap appliance.

There's a double whammy for paper shredders. As well as ending up in a landfill, these devices send the paper they shred there, too. Household recycling facilities can't process loose shredded paper, so even if you put it into your recycling bin at home, it usually ends up in a landfill.

We ran the numbers on paper shredders. They weren't pretty.

In Australia, home shredding sends 1.5 million appliances + 11,000 tonnes of shredded paper to landfill each year.

What can you do about it? Use a good service that recycles, not a cheap product that creates waste. Send and Shred is perfect for low-volume shredding at home or in small offices. For large companies, get a commercial bin service from a provider like Shred-X.