Waste shredding – ecological and cost-effective

Anyone who has ever bought firewood knows the difference between a cubic meter and a stacked cubic meter. For the uninitiated: a cubic meter of wood is, in theory, a solid block of wood with sides 1m long, while a stacked cubic meter of wood is a one-meter stack of branches, which also includes empty spaces between individual pieces of wood. 

Simply put: there is less wood in a stacked cubic meter than in a cubic meter, although both measures take up the same amount of space. 

A similar principle also applies to other materials, including waste. So how can we increase the efficiency of its transport and storage? 

The answer is simple: Shred.

1. Shredding waste from tree cutting

Branches and smaller tree fragments can occur in nature in rather irregular shapes that make transport difficult. A tool that facilitates their shredding without tedious sawing is a wood chipper. 

This device turns branches into wood chips of a size determined by the user. A gasoline-powered chipper can be helpful in work far from farms, where without access to electricity large quantities of branches must be processed. 

Wood chips are easier to load and transport and constitute a good base for the production of high-energy fuel materials – briquettes and pellets. A chipper can turn a stacked cubic meter of branches into loose material with almost half the volume.

2. Shredding plastic waste

For this process, so-called plastic shredders will be necessary. They process various types of plastics, such as PET bottles, packaging, plastic bags. 

Thanks to shredding, plastics can be processed more easily, which increases recycling efficiency and allows the recovery of valuable raw materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene. One of the main advantages of this process is, of course, also the reduction of waste volume, which enables more efficient transport and storage.

Such a solution will work well in all kinds of workplaces generating large amounts of plastic waste, e.g. shipping foils. 

3. Crushing rubble using jaw crushers

Even very hard materials can be shredded thanks to the use of specialized crushers.

Jaw crushers are devices used in mining, construction and recycling industries. They are used for shredding various materials such as stones, rocks, concrete, construction rubble and other hard substances. They constitute a key tool in the process of shredding and processing raw materials in order to obtain the appropriate particle size for further use.

4. Shredding rubber

Processing used tires or other rubber products is also possible thanks to shredders. Ground rubber can be more easily transformed into new products such as road surfaces, insulation materials or granulates used in construction. Shredding rubber allows better reuse of its properties, such as flexibility or abrasion resistance.

5. Shredding glass

So-called glass shredders can process used bottles and other glass waste into smaller pieces, which can then serve as a base for re-production.

6. Grinding textiles

Textile waste, such as old clothes, can be shredded and transformed into textile fibers or filling material.

7. Metal recovery

Specialized metal shredders allow the processing of used metal elements such as sheets, steel rods or worn-out structures, which enables the recovery of valuable raw materials.

8. Pelletizing or briquetting biomass

An alternative way to reduce the volume of waste – in this case biomass – is pelletizing or briquetting. A device for extruding pellets (pellet mill) or briquettes (briquetting machine) in the first phase of its operation finely grinds the supplied material. Then, using high pressure, pellet granules or briquette blocks are extruded from it. 

This is an ideal solution for farms generating large amounts of natural waste such as straw, shavings, leaves, grass or plant residues.

To learn more about independent fuel production from waste, check our other article. 

In summary 

The advantages of using shredders and chippers can be multiplied. Shredding waste reduces its volume, which facilitates transport and storage, and also lowers the costs associated with its further processing. 

This enables more efficient recycling, because smaller fractions are more easily subjected to processing processes such as melting, crushing or material separation. Thanks to shredding, the possibility of recovering valuable raw materials also increases, which contributes to saving natural resources and reducing energy consumption. 

A high-quality shredder, chipper or grinder is a one-time expense that in the long run may prove to be a profitable investment.