Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with shredding

What to do with 30-50 trees' worth of large branches?

amtho — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:22:06 -0800

What to do with 30-50 trees' worth of large branches in Orange County, NC? Burn, shred, give away for bird thicket, other ideas? My friend (who is smart enough to already have considered obvious solutions) just had some of her front yard cleared so she could have a garden. Apparently this has resulted in a huge branchy mess. She's invited me over to help her burn all these branches tomorrow (the tree trunks have already been sold and removed).

Having the tree guys back would involve having the backhoe back -- she doesn't want that, because it would tear up the ground/soil more than it already is.

I considered hiring a shredder, but I'm not sure whether, environmentally, that would be better or worse than her idea of just burning everything.

I believe it would be safe to burn the branches - there's a lot of clearing now, it should be fairly wet tomorrow, and she generally knows what she's doing.

Any ideas? I'm not sure how large these trees were -- I'm guessing there was a range. The last time I saw her house, she was definitely living in the woods, a mix of pine and harder woods.

For locals: She lives about halfway between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, a bit to the west. She's already called TROSA but they won't come to her location.

What music theory stuff is going on here?

Trurl — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:16:27 -0800

What music theory stuff is Yngwie Malmsteen having a hard time explaining about his composition "Arpeggios from Hell"? Keep in mind that I know essentially nothing about music theory. Aside from the obvious tempo challenge here, does whatever he's referring to present any particular performance difficulties on the instrument?

destroying documents that my cat peed on

liketitanic — Sun, 29 May 2011 09:06:47 -0800

I need to shred a bunch of papers with sensitive information on them--credit card statements etc. Problem: my cat peed on a bunch of them a while ago. (They're dry now.) I don't own a shredder and I would just take these somewhere that has shredding service, but the horrible smell seems like an awful thing to inflict on anyone, and that's not even considering whether they'd take them. What other safe/secure way is there to dispose of them--one that's relatively uncomplicated for a city-dweller with access to a car?

How can I dispose of this box full of computer guts securely and cheaply?

eric1200 — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:11:34 -0800

I am moving across the country in a few weeks. I had these two VERY old desktop computers that I have completely taken apart. Now I have this box full of hard drives, boards, wires, etc. I want to dispose of them securely... ...but something tells me it would be a really horrible idea to just throw this stuff in the trash. And besides, I've heard that shredding is really the only way to securely dispose of any hard drive.

I am looking for a service that will come to my house and take this stuff off my hands. I just need to get rid of it before I move. Is this a service that exists..? How cheaply can I get this done?

Thanks in advance for your help!

How to be a "greener" at packaging?

colecovizion — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:38:34 -0800

"Greener" Packaging - My company is trying to be better reducing our packaging costs and waste. Currently, we use a lot of foam and cardboard boxes. What have you seen that works? Lots more inside My company is trying to be better reducing our packaging costs and waste. Currently, we use a lot of thin foam rolls and cardboard boxes.

Our products are custom, so size and weight can vary dramatically (1lb to 50lbs per part). A typical part would be made of metal or plastic. Scratches or dents to the part can make it unusable.

As a start, I'm thinking there is a good opportunity to use shredded paper as product packaging for our lighter products (3lbs or less). My initial thought is to get a high powered shredder and use the shreds. However, I don't want there to be an explosion of shreds, so they'd have to be encapsulated somehow.What's the best way to use shredded paper as product packaging? Should I use plastic bags, cardboard, etc? Does a particular type of shred (diamond, crinkle, etc) make better packaging?

Instead of using cardboard boxes, I'm looking into reusable plastic crates with dividers for local deliveries. This way we won't have to package parts individually and eliminate the need for cardboard and foam.

Are there any other innovative ways your company has used to reduce packaging waste and cost? What websites would you recommend for helping a small business to get "greener"?

Thanks!

Save the fur(niture)!

tigerjade — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:39:49 -0800

Catfilter: how can we find our cat's motivation for shredding furniture and redirect him to a more fabric-friendly activity? Let me preface this by saying that I've read every thread on clawing I can find. I've asked the vet and they're out of ideas. We keep his nails trimmed. We've tried spraying the furniture with Feliway. He has three scratching posts (shared with the other cats), and he does use them from time to time. He could care less if the sofa is covered in sticky tape or tin foil.

One exasperating problem: he's blind and has the resulting obnoxiously sharp hearin. I swear he can hear me thinking of reaching for the canned air (startles but doesn't stop him), squirt bottle (thinks water is a hoot) or can filled with coins (same reaction as canned air).

He doesn't seem to differentiate between good and bad attention, which is probably part of the issue. We'd love to let the cats into the bedroom occasionally but it's hard waking up to him popping on the side of the bed.

Any ideas, Hivemind?

How stupid would it be to trash the old financial stuff?

paultopia — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:39:49 -0800

How dangerous is throwing out old financial records, really? Don't want to pay to shred, and lots of peoples' trash is mixed with mine... I'm a student at a major university with many, many people's trash mixed together into large dumpsters. I'm trying to get rid of several years of old financial records, just full of things like SSNs, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.

Does anyone have a sense as to how dangerous it really is to just toss it all into one of the big bins? Do people really go rooting through them? Is it more or less dangerous to throw it into the paper recycling one?

Alternatively, does anyone have any quick and easy destruction method for about 50 pounds of paper that doesn't require the ability to burn or shred and can happen without paying some professional?

Destroy paper

bigmusic — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:32:13 -0800

Is there a way to destroy a 55 gallon bag of papers easily, inexpensively, quickly, and without setting them on fire?