Getting rid of all that paper mail...

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Swing

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Once a long time ago, throwing the extra mail and other papers out was safe and people did it all the time.

And out in the country there have been the burn barrels (I need one).

Now it's shred everything as someone will want to steal your identity. I hate shredding and keep putting it off.

I'm thinking of using a rubber storage container and putting paper stuff in and letting it become mush. stir it, then pour it out to dry and throw away. Same as using old paper to make new paper.

Do you think it would work? Do you have any other methods? What do you do?
 
Junk mail goes into a wastepaper basket. Wife bags and empties the wastepaper baskets into the barrel in our garage. Once a week I take the trash from the garage barrel and recycle it nature's way. I burn it.

All mail that has our private or sensitive information I save. When the regular trash is being burn, I personally throw in the mail we don't want anyone else to see.
 
Currently all the mail goes into the burn barrel. I put a cardboard box of easily started burnables in the bottom and other stuff like the regular trash on top with cardboard tossed in regularly, the cardboard burn hot and keeps the others going, even stacks of papers seem to burn up.

I am currently considering going back to my crosscut shredder and then adding that to my compost pile but that decision will be made after a discussion in another thread that I recently started.
 
Shred and compost. I tear the plastic window out, kind of a pain, but it adds tilth to the soil. I would hand shred mail and newspapers in the winter. Let it pile up and when it is cold and dark out, sit with some tunes, an adult beverage and just tear it all into strips.

EDIT: Poorly worded second sentence... The plastic window does not add tilth to the soil, the paper does. The plastic would never break down and does not belong in the garden is what I meant.
 
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@Angie the non shiny paper you can put in a barrel and put water over the top and let it mush up over 1 or 2 days, mix it with a paint stirer on your electric drill to mush it up further. If you have a slow combustion stove as we have you can take the paper pulp squeezed out (we put ours in a pasta drainer and push down on it to get out most of the water) and put it in a fire brick maker fold the handles over and stand on it, pull the paper fire brick out and put it on a tarp to dry in the sun over about a week or more, you will know they are done when they feel not damp and are much lighter. This makes paper bricks you can use in your fireplace as fire starters. We have done this and it works well.

All papers with our personal details on it gets done like this and we have paper fire starting bricks to start the fire with each winter or if DH's back is not up to this we burn them directly in the fire.

If you have a 44 gal drum you can cut the bottom out of it and put it on the ground and put your personal papers and garden and yard weeds or alternatively dig a hole in the ground and put things in it and burn it and use the ashes to add biochar to your garden soil. Alternatively you can tear them up and put them in your mulch with hay and grass clippings as the paper adds nitrogen to the soil as mulch. You can also run over your hay, grass clippings and shredded paper with the ride on lawn mower and use it as mulch that way too.
 
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I use several methods. Any envelope that has a name and address on the outside of it gets torn in two and goes in the recycle bin. Any mailers that have a blank (white) pages on the back that doesn't have print, I cut into 3 pieces and use as scrap paper. When it's used, I throw it in the recycle bin. If it has personal information on it, I shred it and then place it in the bottom of my big planters that I then add compost and soil to for my tomatoes. I don't have very much shredded stuff since most of it is just general "resident" junk mail without specific names or information, so most of it all goes to the recycle bin.
 
Sewingcreations15 said:
@Angie the non shiny paper you can put in a barrel and put water over the top and let it mush up over 1 or 2 days, mix it with a paint stirer on your electric drill to mush it up further. If you have a slow combustion stove as we have you can take the paper pulp squeezed out (we put ours in a pasta drainer and push down on it to get out most of the water) and put it in a fire brick maker fold the handles over and stand on it, pull the paper fire brick out and put it on a tarp to dry in the sun over about a week or more, you will know they are done when they feel not damp and are much lighter. This makes paper bricks you can use in your fireplace as fire starters. We have done this and it works well.

All papers with our personal details on it gets done like this and we have paper fire starting bricks to start the fire with each winter or if DH's back is not up to this we burn them directly in the fire.

If you have a 44 gal drum you can cut the bottom out of it and put it on the ground and put your personal papers and garden and yard weeds or alternatively dig a hole in the ground and put things in it and burn it and use the ashes to add biochar to your garden soil. Alternatively you can tear them up and put them in your mulch with hay and grass clippings as the paper adds nitrogen to the soil as mulch. You can also run over your hay, grass clippings and shredded paper with the ride on lawn mower and use it as mulch that way too.
Click to expand...
Where do you get one of those contraptions? That is interesting. One of the places I lived as a kid had a thing to roll news papers into logs bit I've never seen one for sale.
 
Hi @Terri9630 you could probably get them off eBay and they are called briquette makers and here is what they look like -

briquette maker.jpg


Just saves you using as much kindling to start your fires with.
 
@Terri9630 and most welcome it is a great way of getting rid of your newspapers, non shiny junk mail, personal letter with your details on them, envelopes without plastic windows in them and you can also tear up brown cardboard boxes and make paper fire bricks with them too.
 
Sewingcreations15 said:
@Terri9630 and most welcome it is a great way of getting rid of your newspapers, non shiny junk mail, personal letter with your details on them, envelopes without plastic windows in them and you can also tear up brown cardboard boxes and make paper fire bricks with them too.
Click to expand...

I found a 4 brick one on Amazon.
 
I have an old wooden box with holes drilled on the bottom. I used to use it as a cheese press but it can also be used as a fire brick maker. I found it was too hard to clean with it being made out of wood for cheese making so now it I use an old lard press. The guy who made me the box also made a contraption that would allow me to place a brick on top of the lid to "press" out all the liquid.
 
Dani said:
I have an old wooden box with holes drilled on the bottom. I used to use it as a cheese press but it can also be used as a fire brick maker. I found it was too hard to clean with it being made out of wood for cheese making so now it I use an old lard press. The guy who made me the box also made a contraption that would allow me to place a brick on top of the lid to "press" out all the liquid.
Click to expand...
That's what I was thinking of. Making a box and using it like a cheese press. Or just getting another mold for my cheese press.
 
My wife shreds things with personal information on it.
Where I live burn barrels are illegal.
There is a county guy they call Burn Barrel Bob.
His only job is to drive around and bust burn barrel users.
I'm not sure how much the fine is because I never had a burn barrel.

Another question for for you all.
How do you dispose of pill bottles?
I really don't want someone finding an empty bottle of pain pills.
You never know when they might come by to see if you have more.
I peel off the labels and destroy them then just trash the empty bottle.
If the label is really stuck a little goo gone takes care of it.
 
backlash said:
My wife shreds things with personal information on it.
Where I live burn barrels are illegal.
There is a county guy they call Burn Barrel Bob.
His only job is to drive around and bust burn barrel users.
I'm not sure how much the fine is because I never had a burn barrel.

Another question for for you all.
How do you dispose of pill bottles?
I really don't want someone finding an empty bottle of pain pills.
You never know when they might come by to see if you have more.
I peel off the labels and destroy them then just trash the empty bottle.
If the label is really stuck a little goo gone takes care of it.
Click to expand...

I burn pill bottles. It looks as if you have come up with the right answer. If you want to speed things up lay them out on the pavement and scorch the labels with a propane torch. Just a thought. Throw the cooled containers in the trash.
 
@Dani and @Terri9630 yes a cheese press would do the job for the paper briquette maker too in fact anything that has a press where the base has holes for the water to drain out of would make a fire briquette maker. Good lateral thinking Dani .

Self reliance is all about thinking how you can use what you have rather than buy anything. We purchased 1 briquette maker and friends had another one that they were not using and asked if we wanted it for free and of course we said yes. I think we paid under $20 for ours.
 
backlash said:
My wife shreds things with personal information on it.
Where I live burn barrels are illegal.
There is a county guy they call Burn Barrel Bob.
His only job is to drive around and bust burn barrel users.
I'm not sure how much the fine is because I never had a burn barrel.

Another question for for you all.
How do you dispose of pill bottles?
I really don't want someone finding an empty bottle of pain pills.
You never know when they might come by to see if you have more.
I peel off the labels and destroy them then just trash the empty bottle.
If the label is really stuck a little goo gone takes care of it.
Click to expand...
backlash said:
My wife shreds things with personal information on it.
Where I live burn barrels are illegal.
There is a county guy they call Burn Barrel Bob.
His only job is to drive around and bust burn barrel users.
I'm not sure how much the fine is because I never had a burn barrel.

Another question for for you all.
How do you dispose of pill bottles?
I really don't want someone finding an empty bottle of pain pills.
You never know when they might come by to see if you have more.
I peel off the labels and destroy them then just trash the empty bottle.
If the label is really stuck a little goo gone takes care of it.
Click to expand...
 
backlash said:
My wife shreds things with personal information on it.
Where I live burn barrels are illegal.
There is a county guy they call Burn Barrel Bob.
His only job is to drive around and bust burn barrel users.
I'm not sure how much the fine is because I never had a burn barrel.

Another question for for you all.
How do you dispose of pill bottles?
I really don't want someone finding an empty bottle of pain pills.
You never know when they might come by to see if you have more.
I peel off the labels and destroy them then just trash the empty bottle.
If the label is really stuck a little goo gone takes care of it.
Click to expand...

I take mine the empty bottles back to the pharmacy - after I remove the labels. They seem glad to recycle them.
 
backlash said:
My wife shreds things with personal information on it.
Where I live burn barrels are illegal.
There is a county guy they call Burn Barrel Bob.
His only job is to drive around and bust burn barrel users.
I'm not sure how much the fine is because I never had a burn barrel.

Another question for for you all.
How do you dispose of pill bottles?
I really don't want someone finding an empty bottle of pain pills.
You never know when they might come by to see if you have more.
I peel off the labels and destroy them then just trash the empty bottle.
If the label is really stuck a little goo gone takes care of it.
Click to expand...

I peel off the labels and use the bottles for small screws and other items. some hold fishing gear, some hold tinder..too useful to me to throw away
 
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