Paper Breakdown

[Ru-Gardener]

Hi Everyone,

I've had my hotbin for a week or so and am getting massively stressed about the sheer volume of shredded paper required.

We have no access to a shredder and I don't use much paper for my work. Have been using every available moment to hand shred whatever paper and card I can find around the house, in addition to collecting & hand shredding paper from family members that live nearby. At this point my hands are aching and I've just cut myself with the scissors, however for the 2 trug loads of garden and vegetable waste I've put into the hotbin (with an attempt at the correct ratios of other material) I'm still not sure I've added enough paper... Meanwhile, 2 trug loads added, the rest of my garden is waiting for me to cut back the other 200-odd trug loads that need cutting back this autumn - help!

Do I have to buy a shredder for this to work? Is this volume of paper really necessary? I'm worried now that even if I do buy a shredder, it might not work as I've read another post that suggests even properly shredded paper may be too large... And how does one even approach a cardboard box with any hope of shredding it into 4cm pieces??

Having spent €290 to buy this hotbin, I'm afraid I might never get it working...

Can anyone offer any hope or advice?

Thanks,

Ru-Gardener

[Ru-Gardener]

Update

I got it going earlier this week after putting in a hopper-load of grass cuttings, along with properly shredded paper given to me by a friend. Steam coming out when I lifted the lid, a temperature reading of 60 degrees and run-off liquid coming out at the bottom 👍

Unfortunately, the temperature went right down after that when the next load went in. Keeping my fingers crossed I'll get it going again & not opening it more than once every 2 days.

I gather the paper doesn't have to be hand shredded down to ridiculously tiny sizes but the larger the pieces are, the slower the process will be... ??

Would still appreciate any advice,

Ru.

[HotBinDjinn]

With regards to shredding cardboard - I have a second hand office shredder I bought of Ebay for less than £10. It goes through the softer corrugated cardboard quite well if its cut into smaller strips first or torn into smaller pieces. You can quickly work out what kind of cardboard shreds easily and what doesn't. toilet roll tubes, egg boxes, amazon parcel boxes, cereal boxes work really well and my local shop is happy to give me as many boxes as I want as it saves them a trip to the council yard.

[Ru-Gardener]

Thanks HotBinDjinn,

That's really good value, makes sense to look around on Ebay or similar.

I'm starting to get a feel for it now and have been putting through roughly torn up paper / card, along with some shredded paper given to me by friends. I can see that the hotbin responds really well to the well shredded material so will look out for a cheap shredder online.

Actually beginning to enjoy all of this now I've adjusted to how it works! It's a bit like having a new pet 😃