Shredder for Cardboard?

I've wanted a worm bin for a very long time, and am finally starting one. I have coco coir to use for bedding to start with, but we also have tons of cardboard boxes, with more coming all the time (my parents order a lot of stuff delivered) and I would really like to utilize those.

Can anyone recommend a good paper shredder that works well for cardboard? I feel like I could utilize a lot more cardboard if I am not ripping or cutting it by hand. I will start with doing it by hand and see how it goes, but I do think I'll want some kind of mechanized way to do it in the future. I have the idea that I can grow the worms into a little side business of selling worm castings, in the future too, though I am starting small for now and seeing how it goes.

Good question. My 12 sheet shredder can’t deal with cardboard. I bought the shredder to process mostly junk mail and then either add it to the worm farm or the regular compost heap. As for cardboard, I soak it in a crate full of rain water and then rip it up by hand. I only add this to the compost heap though and use the shredded paper for the worms. I also soak the shredded paper first to help it breakdown faster.

That's a good idea! The more I look, the more I think buying one new would be a big waste of money. I could spend over $100  on one and have it still wear out and break if I use it regularly for cardboard. Which is also wasteful. If I come across one for really cheap at a thrift store or something I will get it and use it till I kill it, but otherwise I think I will stick with shredding by hand. I'm sure if I mix the cardboard with coco coir, so it doesn't mat down, the pieces don't have to be nearly as tiny as a shredder makes anyway.

Hi Lila,
My first thought was to soak the cardboard, like has been mentioned. My second thought was a really sharp machete. I have never tried, but I could imagine you could break the box down, roll it up and use the machete to chop off strips?

I've tried consumer-duty shredders on cardboard and have broken three. (they were already ones I salvaged, so no loss but time on my part)

I have cut cardboard boxes for model-making and for custom sizing, by using either a bandsaw or tablesaw. The bandsaw is probably the safer and less dusty route, the tablesaw works fine.
If you have either of these tools at your disposal, give it a try... you can set a rip fence and cut lots of strips quickly.
If you didn't have either tool, maybe a second-hand tabletop bandsaw would be the least expensive option.

Another option, is a big paper cutter (go figure). The sort that used to be in school classrooms or at least in the art room. A long curved blade on a hinge, attached to a base with a ruler and usually a grid.
Fairly quiet, easy to feed and cut, and if set at the edge of a table the cutoffs can drop into a bin.

All that said, utility knife blades are cheap, makes zero dust, zero noise. If you cut up the boxes as they arrived, rather than letting them accumulate, you might find it easy to keep up.

Kenneth Elwell wrote:I've tried consumer-duty shredders on cardboard and have broken three. (they were already ones I salvaged, so no loss but time on my part)

I have cut cardboard boxes for model-making and for custom sizing, by using either a bandsaw or tablesaw. The bandsaw is probably the safer and less dusty route, the tablesaw works fine.
If you have either of these tools at your disposal, give it a try... you can set a rip fence and cut lots of strips quickly.
If you didn't have either tool, maybe a second-hand tabletop bandsaw would be the least expensive option.

Another option, is a big paper cutter (go figure). The sort that used to be in school classrooms or at least in the art room. A long curved blade on a hinge, attached to a base with a ruler and usually a grid.
Fairly quiet, easy to feed and cut, and if set at the edge of a table the cutoffs can drop into a bin.

All that said, utility knife blades are cheap, makes zero dust, zero noise. If you cut up the boxes as they arrived, rather than letting them accumulate, you might find it easy to keep up.

Thanks! I didn't even think of a utility knife. We have wooden worktables out in the garage; I could just lay the boxes out on them and slice them up that way. That feels the simplest and most approachable to me. My husband has various power saws, but I don't enjoy using them.

We use a box cutter which I assume is like utility knife.

We lay them flat on our concrete floors and cut the boxes into a size that will fit easily into a barrel. (about 12" x 12")

I've been told that worms really like the glue in corrugated cardboard. They don't need it "shredded", but I do try to cut it down to small strips to make it easier to mix in with the veggie scraps.

I find that many box cutters aren't that comfortable to use for a *lot* of cutting. For years now we've used a knife that Hubby's Aunt gave him over 35 years ago. They're actually decent Japanese knives, even though they look quite non-descript. However, I'll just do it sitting where I can see my large computer screen and put on some music or a video that doesn't require my full concentration. In fact, I've been working my way through four pizza boxes from a party my son had recently and I'm almost done the last one.

I too throw the boxes into a bucket or barrel of water and let them get soggy.  They are easy to rip that way, the moisture helps build the compost pile, worms and black soldier flies like the corregations, and unlike newspaper, cardboard doesn't seem to mat.

Another use is to soak, then layer them around the base of newly planted trees, in large pieces.  I try to get them to slant towards the trunk, where any water can be funneled to provide watering.

If I remember correctly, Geoff Lawton said in one of their desert re-greening projects, that one factor alone helped them to keep the trees alive (they were getting irrigated also).

I bought the Fellowes Powershred 125Ci 100% Jam Proof 18-Sheet Cross-Cut Shredder (3312501)
It does not jam, it handles cardboard marvelously. I've used it a lot and had it for years. I am a diehard composter and worm farmer, and I needed something to handle big jobs. I paid $400. I see it is $583 now.

I also bought the  Fellowes 62MC 10-Sheet Micro-Cut Home and Office Paper Shredder with Safety Lock for Added Protection (4685101)
This one makes confetti. It handles cardboard but not the real thick stuff. I was delighted when I discovered it could handle cardboard. Thin cardboard like toilet rolls and paper towel rolls are a cinch. I paid $100, now it is $150.

Milwaukee Tools has an excellent new box cutter/utility knife.
It fits the hand great and angles the knife much better for cutting.
IF I can find mine I really enjoy using it.
I don't remember what mine cost but ti wasn't too bad for the quality of the product and the cutting quality.
My problem is that I lay tools down instead of putting them back in their drawer in my tool chest.

I also do vermiposting and nothing can compare to truly shredded cardboard. I bought a paper shredder on Amazon and it has worked wonderfully so far (18 months and lots of cardboard). Using it for cardboard voids the warranty, but at just over $100 it’s already paid for itself.

I bought the “Amazon Basics 15-sheet cross-cut, CD Credit card Office Shredder”

I see they now have 18 and 24 sheet versions that might do even better. But I’m happy with the one I got.

I have a buddy who does "precious plastic", it's an online community of diy plastic recyclers, He routinely buys shredders at thrift stores and the like, really great value, even the ones that aren't working can usually be fixed pretty easy by disassembling the safety mechanisms. If you can find a good commercial grade one, it will eat that cardboard, no problem.

Those things are pretty impressive, he shoves all kinds of plastic through them!

Lila, the worms won't care if the cardboard is shredded, pulverized or chopped. I have had great success with a simple jig saw which will cut through 4 or more layers of corrugated cardboard. ( a cheap band saw works even better;) As long as you keep the bedding nice and moist, the worms will do all the hard work for you....Here's a decent jig saw at a reasonable price
https://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/power-saws/jig-saws/corded/5-amp-orbital-variable-speed-jig-saw-69582.html

I had the same problem but spent a little more and got a gas Chipper/ shredder. Since I have a lot of trees and was burning branches I figured the chipper/ shredder would be the way to go It works great on cardboard and limbs up to 3". Any limbs larger go to my fireplace log stack.

I always wanted to try rototilling wet cardboard

I used to cut up the cardboard, but now I just soak it in water for a few minutes, it then tears supper easy.  Plus, it is moist and better consumed by the worms.  I almost never have to add water to the worm bins other than the moisture with the cardboard.

I looked into this same topic recently.  This is the most comprehensive resource I found:

https://yuzumag.com/how-to-shred-cardboard-for-compost/

Thank you everyone! I ended up just putting a rubbermaid rub with a few inches of water in it next to my worm bin. I ripped up a few cardboard boxes just enough to kind of fit into the bottom of the tub of water, let them soak for a while to get nice and soft, and then ripped them up smaller directly into the worm bin.

Since my worms already had bedding of coco coir, I just piled up the carboard chunks on top. When I feed the worms, I just move the carboard aside and put the food on top of the coco coir, then recover with cardboard. It seems to be working well. I'm not worried about too much moisture, because I have drainage holes in the bottom of the worm bin.

It's been a few days since I added the cardboard, and a few worms are moving around within the cardboard area, but most are between the layers of coco coir and carboard eating the food. The top parts of the cardboard that are most exposed to air tend to dry out a little, so I am glad I have this cardboard layer to help insulate the lower levels against drying out. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all progresses. I read and research a lot before taking on a new critter or project, but there is no better way to learn that by doing it. It's been fun for my kids as well.

I bought the electric Patriot shredder/chipper mentioned in that article. I bought it to shred leaves although it does do tree branches. I needed something to handle vast quantities of leaves. I put the leaves through twice and get confetti. The smaller the particle the quicker the leaves turn to compost. Less than one year instead of 3+ years. I got to plant in pure leaf mold this year. The beds were 18" deep of pure leaf mold. I'm telling you pure leaf compost (leaf mold) is the best compost.  It is better than barn litter, better than any compost I have ever made. You know how I know? I asked the plants. The health of the plants is amazing. Even my zucchini got no powdery mildew this year where they were planted in the leaf compost. All the other zucchiniplants did, even though I pruned all the lower leaves for better air circulation. It is as if they have a strong immune system when they are planted in the right environment.

It's almost that time of year when I will be going to town picking up hundreds of gallons of leaves left at the side of the road. I have to stay on it because the town has five trucks picking up leaves every day. I got 600 gallons last year. I'm going for 1000 gallons this year.

I was also going to mention chippers.  I have one for my BCS, and it’s wonderful.  I don’t have the knack for shredding leaves yet, but soon…

Lila, it sounds like you have a solution for now.  Another possible noisy fuel consuming method could be running a lawnmower over the (not flat!) cardboard.

Marilyn Paris wrote:I bought the electric Patriot shredder/chipper mentioned in that article. I bought it to shred leaves although it does do tree branches. I needed something to handle vast quantities of leaves. I put the leaves through twice and get confetti. The smaller the particle the quicker the leaves turn to compost. Less than one year instead of 3+ years. I got to plant in pure leaf mold this year. The beds were 18" deep of pure leaf mold. I'm telling you pure leaf compost (leaf mold) is the best compost.  It is better than barn litter, better than any compost I have ever made. You know how I know? I asked the plants. The health of the plants is amazing. Even my zucchini got no powdery mildew this year where they were planted in the leaf compost. All the other zucchiniplants did, even though I pruned all the lower leaves for better air circulation. It is as if they have a strong immune system when they are planted in the right environment.

It's almost that time of year when I will be going to town picking up hundreds of gallons of leaves left at the side of the road. I have to stay on it because the town has five trucks picking up leaves every day. I got 600 gallons last year. I'm going for 1000 gallons this year.

I get extremely excited about leaf season as well! Here in Central Texas it comes a bit later, but I plan to get as many as I possibly can. I don't remember how many times I came home with my pickup truck piled high just from the town closest to us, but there is really no limit to the amount of leaves I can use. I'm going to use them as deep litter in the chicken coop, as deep mulch for the garden, and of course store as much as I can to turn into leaf mold.

My son fixed my mom and dad's old shredder. It didn't last, but I was hooked. I bought a Bonsaii 15 sheet shredder a couple of years ago from Amazon. It has shredded the huge amount of boxes we get ( 2 son's addicted to Amazon). It's  still going strong.  I got it for about 100.00 and even though I didn't want to spend that much, I'm happy I did.  I use the shredded cardboard in my worm bin, compost , and give it to my niece for her guinea pigs.  My adult children kinda like shredding the cardboard, so I get help. I feel we are waisting a lot less cardboard, not only boxes, but toilet paper, and paper towel rolls,  even pizza boxes, then we used to.
Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:My son fixed my mom and dad's old shredder. It didn't last, but I was hooked. I bought a Bonsaii 15 sheet shredder a couple of years ago from Amazon. It has shredded the huge amount of boxes we get ( 2 son's addicted to Amazon). It's  still going strong.  I got it for about 100.00 and even though I didn't want to spend that much, I'm happy I did.  I use the shredded cardboard in my worm bin, compost , and give it to my niece for her guinea pigs.  My adult children kinda like shredding the cardboard, so I get help. I feel we are waisting a lot less cardboard, not only boxes, but toilet paper, and paper towel rolls,  even pizza boxes, then we used to.
Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

That is good to know! I am going to keep an eye out in thrift stores. I would hate to buy one brand-new and then break it, even though it sounds like yours is doing just fine with the carboard. My parents order a lot online as well, so we have a huge stack of boxes I would like to use. I figure shredded cardboard could be used in the chicken coop as litter too.

Lila Stevens wrote:I've wanted a worm bin for a very long time, and am finally starting one. I have coco coir to use for bedding to start with, but we also have tons of cardboard boxes, with more coming all the time (my parents order a lot of stuff delivered) and I would really like to utilize those.

Can anyone recommend a good paper shredder that works well for cardboard? I feel like I could utilize a lot more cardboard if I am not ripping or cutting it by hand. I will start with doing it by hand and see how it goes, but I do think I'll want some kind of mechanized way to do it in the future. I have the idea that I can grow the worms into a little side business of selling worm castings, in the future too, though I am starting small for now and seeing how it goes.

I recommend using a jig saw to cut the cardboard into strips narrow enough to feed into a wood chipper (rent a wood chipper if you don't have one). Store the chipped cardboard in trash bags, and throw in some black pepper to discourage the critters from building homes in the bags.

Thanks Dave!
I didn’t know black pepper was a rodent deterrent!

I use an Amazon Basics that handles up to 12 sheets of paper at a time.  It also handles cardboard up to 1/4 of an inch thick corrugated

Has anyone tried a small wood chipper to cut up the cardboard?
I'm not sure if that is even feasible, but as I am reading all the work that is put into cutting up the cardboard and trying paper shredders, the wood chipper came to mind....
Please be kind because it was just a thought and I really haven't any idea what kind of mess it could create....

Welcome to Permies Dorothy! - if anyone isn't nice to you (or anyone else) please hit the 'report' button on the post for staff to have a look and sort them out!

It looks like Wayne (posted above) has tried a chipper with some success:

Wayne Petry wrote:I had the same problem but spent a little more and got a gas Chipper/ shredder. Since I have a lot of trees and was burning branches I figured the chipper/ shredder would be the way to go It works great on cardboard and limbs up to 3". Any limbs larger go to my fireplace log stack.

Dorothy Moore wrote:Has anyone tried a small wood chipper to cut up the cardboard?

Chipping and shredding *anything* is a messy business, so "mess" is relative! A friend tried using our fairly large, tractor-PTO-run shredder with cardboard that was contaminated with veggie oil, in the hopes that if it was smaller bits it would biodegrade faster.
1. Make sure any plastic tape or plastic covered labels are removed - the shredder really didn't like those.
2. Don't expect conveniently-sized bits as a result - it did mash the stuff up, and it didn't jam the shoot (wet bark will do that, among other materials).
3. Experiment with how much to put in at once for the specific equipment, and consider that you may still need to do some pre-cutting. The general rule for our shredder is nothing large than 2 inches. We certainly broke that rule, but cardboard isn't the same a branches.

Personally, it sounds as if some of the paper shredders would do as well a job as the wood shredder. I certainly wouldn't buy a wood shredder just for this task. So much depends on the size of the problem. My friend had a big problem he needed to get under control, and had a bunch of high-Nitrogen material that needed high Carbon material to balance it and prevent the pile from getting stinky. We solved the problem, but it wasn't the most "permie" solution!

I’ve been using 2 Amazon Basics 24 sheet shredders.  Having two drastically speeds up the work and keeps the motors from getting hot.

I’ve been using mine regularly for about five years and they shred all but the thickest cardboard.

I think the price has gone up a little bit but slightly reduced price from Amazon warehouse or eBay.

Definitely not a good idea with smaller shedders because you’re likely to burn them out but the 24 sheet Will probably cost a dollar a month if you can keep it working for a decade.

I have been thinking about this because I get a lot of newspaper and cardboard.
Can the shredders be modified to sit over a bigger catch bin, since I could fill those small units in a minute?

John I'm sure you could modify a shredder to sit over a large container. All the shredders I've used have a safety feature so if the catch drawer is open it won't run, so you will have to bypass that.
I'm always amazed how much my little shredder will hold. We have lots of dogs, so I keep the dog food bags. I will grab one of those and fill it as I go.  It's better to give the shredder breaks so it doesn't get to hot. If you have lots to shred, it might be better to do it in a way that allows it to cool.  When I have lots to do, I cut a bunch into into strips. Then I shred. I will stop when I've gone through the pile, or it's full, I will empty the drawer. Then I will cut a bunch of strips, once I have a nice pile I will shred again.  This works for me so I can shred a lot without overheating my shredder. Mine is a 15 sheet shredder. I agree the more sheet shredder you can get the more likely it will last. 15 was what I could afford. So far it's doing well.  Good luck.

Alternate method: leave a bunch of cardboard laying around with two half-grown puppies in the house. Go outside for an hour. Return and collect the shredded carnage.