The Tri-County Recycling Facility in Little Chute decided in October to no longer take shredded paper. The change affects residents not only in Outagamie County but also Winnebago and Brown counties.

For years the Tri-County Recycling Facility accepted shredded paper, directing residents to put it in a brown paper bag, staple it shut and place it in the recycling bin for curbside collection.

With single-stream recycling, the bags and other recyclables are dumped onto a floor, scooped up by a front-end loader for placement in metering bins and run through a disc screen separator. If the paper bags break during the process, the shredded paper spreads like confetti.

Outagamie County Recycling and Solid Waste recently posted a humorous video on TikTok about the difficulties of processing shredded paper. 

"This paper gets absolutely everywhere," said Marissa Michalkiewicz, recycling and solid waste program coordinator. "It gets stuck in our disc screen. It gets stuck in our baler. It clogs up gears and shafts. It doesn't get properly recycled when it comes through our facility because it just cannot stay separated."

With curbside recycling no longer an option for shredded paper, the Tri-County Recycling Facility is encouraging consumers to find other means for recycling confidential documents. Michalkiewicz said some banks hold periodic shredding events. 

Office Depot, Office Max and FedEx Office offer shredding services for a fee.

"They don't have to deal with multiple products," Michalkiewicz said. "It's much more efficient for them to do it."

Consumers also can compost shredded paper, use it as animal bedding or burn it as a fire starter. As a last resort, it can be put in the garbage.