Shredding official documents.

I've been shredding documents from various financial sources
(boy are we RICH !- I don't think so). How do I promote/speed up the composting of paper strips in my compost container? Over to you knowledgeable persons!

Cheers, Tony.

 

They're great mixed in with kitchen waste, the nitrogen in that will help rot them quicker, and give a better end result than kitchen waste on its own

 

I use my shredded paper to line the nest boxes in the chicken hut - they seem to like it more than straw or wood shavings, I guess it's a bit softer around the nether regions.

Every time I muck them out, it all gets mixed in with the chicken poo and all the other bedding and goes straight on the compost heap. It seems to rot down quickly enough.

That's if you've got chickens of course.

 

I just mix any shredding with all my other compost stuff,i.e. Veg and fruit peelings,grass in the summer months plus leaves and I find it all rots down quiet nicely although in the summer months it rots down quicker than it does in the summer

My friend used to take her shredding down to her allotment plot and would burn them but now she has given up her plot this autumn she will have to find another way of getting rid of them

 

In the household we have one who does bookkeeping and on who does HR so there is quite a lot of shredding. It all just goes in the compost and most has disappeared the next time I move the heap. People have said that we should not shred coloured paper but we don't have much choice really. The shredder doesn't much like newspaper, but I put that between the rows of vegetables to suppress the weeds.

 

I think you can legally shred your documents after seven years and put the remains where you want to.

 

Hi Oakridge - I don't think it matters about colours these days. There was a time when the colours in glossy magazines came from heavy metals, which were expensive and also poisonous. But I think that these days all colours are from organic sources.

PS - I liked your pictures. Those Chincherees (if they are) are unusual.

 

I'd didn't relaise that about the glossy magazines @PeterS as I refuse to compost any glossy stuff or even cardboard boxes with glossy print on them as I didn't want there to be any problems with chemicals going into the ground

I bought a flowerpot ful of those Chincherees in flower a few years ago from a holiday in Cornwall and have never been able to get them to flower since so have got a bit bored with them.Cant even remember what has happened to them come to think of it

 

Here I lay bare my ignorance. You have thrown me with the reference to Chincheree Peter, can you say which photo it is please

 

Oakridge - these are Chincherees - Ornithogalum. When I was a kid, an aunt in South Africa sent my parents some as cut flowers, and they lasted for months.

They are bulbs but are tender, and I wouldn't think they would survive outside over winter.

 

Ah, I see, they are Hesperantha Coccinea/Schizostylis, which recently were reclassified. We still know then as Schizostylis. They are hardy and the tub stays outside all year. If you click on the small picture they will come up full size. The Ornithogalum do look jolly nice though.

 

Oakridge - my apologies, I got it wrong - I have looked again and you are right they are Schizostylis. I have now seen the pink ones. I had never seen a white Schitzostylis before, and the colour made me think they were Chincherees, where white is the dominent colour.