# Shredding cardboard



## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

Has anyone every tried to use a chipper to shred cardboard for composting or bedding? I have a potential long term source for cardboard and would like to use it for horse bedding to replace or compliment wood shavings. If not a chipper, any other cardboard chopper ideas?


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## Travis in Louisiana (May 14, 2002)

I found this info on the internet. It may help.

I need to add quite a lot of cardboard to my compost bin. Its quite tedious ripping it up by hand all the time, would a paper shredder shred it perhaps or would a garden shredder be better.
Thanks to anyone taking the time to respond.

Soak it in water in a large Tupperware first. It should become very easy to tear. I had a huge box that I bought a pergola kit in that pretty much self-destructed after being rained on.

You don't have to make the pieces very small. The worms love to go in the corrugations. Just make sure it is nice and damp before putting it in your compost.

Another way to compost it is under mulch. Just lay it down and pile mulch on it. It will really discourage the weeds.


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## starlady (Sep 9, 2009)

My 12-sheet office shredder handles single corrugate just fine. It won't do double corrugate, though. I shred paper, single-layer cardboard (like cereal boxes), and single corrugate and use it for cat litter over a layer of equine pine. It's a bit time-consuming, though... sometimes I'll put a movie on my laptop, turn the sound waaay up, and shred for an hour or two (with breaks to let the shredder cool down).  I used double corrugate cardboard as mulch in a garden bed - just broke down the boxes and laid them flat over the weeds, then watered thoroughly and piled mulch, grass clippings, and shredded paper on top.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Why shred it?


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

Wet cardboard packs down to a solid sordid mat. I don't think you could altogether replace wood shavings with cardboard, although you might be able to mix the two together.


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## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

I don't see why you couldn't mix it for horse bedding- paper shreds are sold for horse bedding all the time.
http://www.papershavings.com/large_animal_bedding.php

I'd think the cardboard alone would do as wogglebug said. Never used a chipper before, so I can't comment on that part.


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## PD-Riverman (May 24, 2007)

I Have. Chipper shredders are built different so you would have to "feed" them different. One of mine has a top feed hole where you throw your leaves and the another shredder has a front feed. The top feed one I can cut the cardboard into long strips about 6" wide then take several strips and feed it into the shredder. The front feed one will not allow the strips because the strips would have to bend twice to get shredded so the strips have to be cut into smaller pieces, but both shread it good. 



CesumPec said:


> Has anyone every tried to use a chipper to shred cardboard for composting or bedding? I have a potential long term source for cardboard and would like to use it for horse bedding to replace or compliment wood shavings. If not a chipper, any other cardboard chopper ideas?


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

I have used my chipper shredder for many things including all sorts of stuff for my compost pile. I just step on the boxes and then fold them in half and stuff them in the large chute on the shredder, works just fine. sisterpine


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

Why shred cardboard for bedding materials? Well sawdust and wood chips can make great bedding but 6" logs do not, or at least not until they've been chipped. I've used shredded paper from my office and it works just fine on its own or preferably mixed with chopped straw or wood shavings. 

I need to make 50 - 100 lbs of bedding per day or I'm going to have to buy it. And I don't like paying good money just to have something for animals to poop on. A paper shredder isn't going to get the job done for me because it would take way too much time. The local Office Depot shreds paper and produces several 50 lb bags a day but they insist they can't give it to me because of security concerns. {sigh} 

What I'm really hoping to find is something that will convert a several hundred pound cardboard bale, a 4 ft cube, into half inch chips in just a few minutes. I know there is something out there that will do it, but there is no way I'm buying a special purpose machine for this job.


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

Corrugated cardboard didn't work well at all in my mid-1990s Troy-bilt chipper/shredder. It didn't feed well at all. The parts called hammers wouldn't grab it to pull feed it in, just wanted to cut slits in it where the hammers hit. Fuzzed up so badly that it almost plugged the screen.

Most paper does well, but I won't bother with corrugated cardboard. Other kinds do okay though. I now take it to the recycling bins.


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