Shredders FAQ
How do I shop for a shredder big enough for my department?
If you are the only user and you will be shredding just a few pages at home everyday, the smallest personal shredder will suffice. Large busy offices will need office or commercial/departmental shredders that can handle constant use everyday and larger capacities of shredding.
Although these numbers can vary based on the amount each user shreds, this general guideline should help you find the right shredder:
1-5 users shredding constantly throughout the day will need a shredder that can handle 5-15 sheets per pass or up to 400 or so sheets a day.
6-10 users shredding constantly throughout the day will need a shredder that can handle 15-25 sheets per pass or up to 2,000 sheets a day.
10-20 users shredding constantly throughout the day will need a shredder that can handle 25-35 sheets per pass or up to 12,000 or so sheets a day.
20+ users shredding constantly throughout the day will need a shredder that can handle
35 or more sheets per pass and more than 12,000 sheets per day.
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What level of security should I buy?
You can choose between strip and cross cut shredders that will reduce material to pieces of varying sizes. Cross cut shredders provide more security as they reduce paper to small confetti like squares whereas a strip cut shredder will shred a sheet of paper vertically into strips. High security shredders are available that meet Department of Defense, FACTA, HIPAA, and other restrictions for industries regulated by the government. Shredders’ security levels are rated on a scale of 1-6. Levels 5 and 6 are for high security shredding of confidential documents. Classified documents that require DoD certification Levels 1 and 2 are strip cut pieces for less sensitive documents and are usually only personal/home shredders.
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What sheet capacity will suit my needs?
If you think that number of users may not be a good way to find a shredder (because users will be shredding either abnormally large or small amounts), then sheets per day or sheets per pass may be better ways of evaluating a potential shredder.
Sheets per pass is the number of sheets a shredder will accept at one time. They range from about 5 for a personal shredder to 500 or more with large industrial shredders. Hospitals and law or other offices needing to shred entire files or stacks of paper at one time will want to look at a larger commercial or industrial shredder.
Sheets per day is the number of sheets a shredder will accept in a day. This is a good measure if you plan to use the shredder continually all day or at intervals for capacities that max out the shredder’s sheets per pass. Large industrial shredders will provide a value in tons per day.
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Which shredder do I purchase for mixed materials?
There are some regular paper shredders for home and office use available that will handle paper with staples, paper clips, as well as CDs and credit cards. Some models will have a separate slot to insert CDs and credit cards. Industrial paper shredders are available for a business to shred cardboard for packaging, as well as metals, plastics, fabrics, and other materials.
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What other features are available?
Optional features/accessories include automatic oilers, conveyors, balers, CD slots (see “Materials being shredded”), automatic safety features, and more.
Automatic oilers are add-on containers that store and dispense oil as the shredder is used. Shredders should be oiled regularly for optimal performance, and automatic oilers will do this without an operator remembering to oil at certain intervals. Auto oilers are usually only used on industrial shredders.
A baler is a machine that condenses shredded waste into compact cubes, or bales. The bales can be disposed of much more easily than large, industrial volumes of shredded material that simply fall into a collection bin.
Safety/efficiency features include auto start/stop so an operator can simply feed paper into the opening without turning the shredder on or off. Reverse mode easily clears paper jams, and various other indicating lights to tell when there is something that needs attention.
Conveyors belts are optional on some industrial shredders to automatically feed paper into the opening as the shredder is working. This allows a user to put down much more paper than the shredder shreds in one pass and leave it to the shredder to feed itself the paper as it can handle it.
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How much room do I need?
Look at the dimensions of the shredder to make sure it will fit into the space where you want to store it. People who buy shredders are sometimes surprised that they don’t fit under their desks or in the corner of the office where they wanted.
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What is HIPAA & FACTA?
HIPAA. This law requires that individual patients’ health information is kept private and properly destroyed.
Failure to comply will cost $100. Further offenses, including information being exposed, can cost up to $250,000 and prison time.
FACTA. Businesses who use consumer information must take reasonable measures to keep the information from being accessed or used illegally.
Violations of FACTA can cost $1000 from the state and $2,500 from the federal government.
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What are some common shredder terms?
Baler - A baler either attaches or stands alone for use with an industrial shredder. It takes shredded waste and condenses it into a small, compact bale (or cube), which can then be easily removed and disposed of.
Conveyor - A table or belt on a shredder (usually industrial) that moves shredded material to the blades as it shreds rather than having an operator feed the shredder.
Strip Cut - A shredder type that reduces material to long thin strips. Shredding is faster shredding but less secure than cross-cut.
Cross Cut - A shredder type that reduces materials to small squares, also called confetti or diamond cut, slower shredding but more secure than strip-cut.
Cutting head - A cutting head is the metal blades inside a shredder that does the actual cutting of the material.
Sheet Capacity - How many sheets you can shred at one time.
Throat opening/throat size - The width of the shredder’s mouth. It defines the size of paper/objects that can fit into the shredder.
Personal & Home Office Shredder - Made for 1 or 2 users, 4-5 sheets at a time, or 100 sheets per day.
Office Shredder - Handles 10 - 30 sheets at a time, up to 2,000 sheets per day, for up to about 10 users.
Commercial Shredders - about 15-50 sheets at a time, up to 12,00 sheets per day
High Security Shredders - Shredding to level 5 or 6 security confetti, these shredders range in sheet capacity and number of users.
Industrial Paper Shredders - 50-100 sheets at a time, up to 2 tons of paper per day
Industrial Shredders can handle large volumes of paper and other materials including cardboard, plastic, and metal.
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