An industrial shredder is an equipment or machine that is used for shredding and

reducing the size of any given material. Paper shredders are recognized more easily
since they are quite common in most organizations, but shredders can be of numerous
types based on the materials they can process.

Some shredders are designed to support material reduction across a range of

recycling applications, which include recycling of plastic, scrap metal, e-waste,
tire, and wood. The process of shredding produces raw material which can be re-
introduced into manufacturing. It may also produce finished products like landscape
mulch. An industrial shredder is also known as chipper, grinder or granulator, but
its main function is to reduce the size of a given material.

How Does Industrial Shredder Work

Most industrial shredders can boast of having high power and being heavy duty to
help you deal with different varieties of waste by reducing their volume. You can
find industrial shredders in different forms, such as single industrial shredder,
double industrial shredder and quad shaft industrial shredder. They come with
special features, some of which include:

Vast range of productivity at the low continuance

Ability to handle any kind of waste in an effective way, regardless of whether it
is plastic, electronic waste, scrap or wastage metal
They work with electric power as well as hydraulic drive
The four shaft shredder or quad shaft industrial shredders are manufactured with
horsepower so as to provide weighty industrial services in shredding. Most
industrial shredders are built to offer major services to help the scrap management
system.

Benefits of Industrial Shredder

Size reduction of waste materials of different types

Help in recycling solid waste
Aid in waste water management
Safeguards the privacy of the company by destroying documents and media like hard
drives and other electronic related items.
Ability to cut both straight and mesh patterns. Its considerable motor strength and
cutting technology help in cutting through a considerable thickness of cardboard.
How Does an Industrial Shredder Help with Waste Management

An industrial shredder plays an important role in waste management. Some benefits

of using mega-shredders in large-scale waste disposal systems and recycling centers
are concerned with the reduction of waste material. You can quickly condense
various materials like asphalt, rubber, wood, plastics and similar material to a
mere fraction of their original size.

Moreover, you can decompose biodegradable waste faster when you shred it. If
properly shredded, the materials that are buried in landfills will take much less
space.

How to Choose an Industrial Shredder

There are four factors you need to consider before choosing an industrial shredder:

Composition of items to be recycled � Check the assortment of materials to be

recycled and how can each be shredded
Volume of throughput � The total volume of material that needs shredding
Requirements of buyers � The requirements need to be considered in parameters like
the particle size
Type of Cut Required � Determine if strip cutters would be a better option or a
grinder based on the cuts you need.
Choose the right industrial shredder based on your requirements. Contact us if you
need any help in making a decision about the same.

INDUSTRIAL SHREDDERS, GRINDERS and SHREDDER SYSTEMS

Consideration of Shredders & Grinders for Recycling and Other Benefits

More Helpful Resources

Jump to various categories of Shredders & Grinders:

Small Shredders & Grinders
Low Capacity Shredders & Grinders
Medium Capacity Shredders & Grinders
Higher Volume Shredders & Grinders
Industrial shredders for waste products play a key role in waste management and
recycling in today�s manufacturing and disposal industries. They may also be
practical for other businesses or business communities, after careful consideration
of security, waste management costs and the importance of lowering environmental
impact. It�s also important to know what type of shredder is most suitable and cost
effective for a given application.

The advantages of using mega-shredders in large-scale waste disposal systems, such

as municipal landfill / recycling centers, are fairly obvious. Plastics, wood,
rubber, asphalt and similar materials can be immediately reduced to a mere fraction
of their original size and many can be sold or given directly back to the public
for distribution as useful products. Bio-degradable products will decompose faster
after shredding. Shredding also allows those materials that will end up buried
forever in landfills to be compacted into a much smaller space with fewer voids,
resulting in a more stable base for future development.

Applications for other businesses may not be quite so obvious and the advantages
may not be immediately apparent. This guide will attempt to shed some light on
possible applications for business and industry, the potential advantages, the
types of machines available and how to determine what type of shredder or grinder
is right for your application.

Shredder Applications � an Overview

The following list is a brief overview of some possible applications for industrial
shredders and grinders in business. Some may be familiar and others may not have
occurred to you. Profit-savvy company executives are finding new and profitable
ways to employ these units every day. Facts and figures will be covered later in
the guide.

Prototype and model destruction

In the manufacturing and engineering industries, espionage is a very real threat.

If you create scale models or mockups of projects in your business, those need to
be disposed of securely when they�ve outlived their usefulness. In some cases, even
full working prototypes may need to be rendered unrecognizable. Industrial
shredders may provide the means to do so practically.
In-house waste management

Ecologically sound business practices are moving more toward the forefront in
today�s society. Businesses are being called upon to reduce waste and to handle
waste products responsibly. Managing at least some of the refuse an industry or
complex produces is one way to reduce your carbon footprint.

Lowering the environmental impact of a business is certainly important, but there

may be other advantages to this strategy as well. State, Federal and even some
Municipal governments now offer several incentives for employing responsible
recycling practices. These may come in the form of tax write-offs, licensing
discounts, or other inducements.

Other fiscal advantages may be possible, too. Industries may be able to recycle
shredded or ground waste directly as raw materials for the same processes. Or,
perhaps the shredded materials may be useful in other areas, as in the way some
small businesses are shredding cardboard containers for use as free packing
material. It may also be possible to create new revenue streams for some businesses
through direct sales of shredded or ground refuse products.

Micro-Community waste management

As developers learn to manage an ever-increasing population and �green� building

practices become the standard, new buildings and whole complexes are springing up
as micro-communities. These hubs for modern living incorporate living, working and
shopping environments in the same building or complex of buildings within walking
distance of each other. Management companies for these cooperative communities may
find the same advantages as businesses and more in managing recycling programs for
the entire community. With the proper grinding/shredding equipment, substantial
revenues may be built throughout the community and incentives can be offered to
clientele within the building or complex.

Just as in private operations, waste management for micro-communities has the

potential to provide secondary income streams for development or management
companies. Shredded waste products can be marketed directly to other enterprises or
recycled within the community as insulation or other building materials.

Direct Industrial Applications

While the advantages are often the same as those of in-house and community
management systems, several industries are based on or supported by shredder or
grinder operations. Most applications are based on recycling cast-off materials,
often creating a viable product in the process. One well-known example is used tire
recycling, in which a potential environmental hazard is prepared for reuse in a
wide range of areas, from asphalt to playground surfaces.

Other industries that rely on shredding or grinding processes for their operations
include the creation of engineered wood products created from reconstituted
materials, as well as composite building materials of plastic and wood fiber, and
more. Fabrics of recycled plastic and insulation made from various materials also
use industrial shredders in their manufacturing processes.

Types of Shredders

Industrial shredders vary in many ways, according to the function they perform. The
internal mechanical processes may include cutting, grinding, hammering and
compression. Many shredders also incorporate shaking/sorting mechanisms. Internal
machinery may travel in rotary, lateral or vertical directions. Speeds of the
internal processes also vary widely, to suit the materials the machines will be
handling. Shredders can be partially categorized by the type of process or
processes they employ.

Grinders

Grinders use abrasion, often combined with compression to pulverize materials,

usually to produce granular products. Wheels, drums and plates may be used in the
processes. These may be either high or low speed machines, according to the type of
material they are intended for.

Chippers

Chippers normally use high speed rotary knives to reduce materials to flakes or
chips. They can be manually or automatically fed, and may be single or multiple
stage machines. They may also employ single or multiple drums or wheels with single
or multiple knives.

Granulators

Granulators are employed mostly for plastic recycling from production processes
like injection molding. These units use knives, rather than abrasive surfaces to
reduce parts or trimmings, etc. to fine particles that can them be reused easily in
the production lines. Some granulators are equipped with thermoforming units that
form the output into easily handled scrap or production parts. Granulators vary
widely in size and mechanics according to the type of industry, types of materials
handled, and the location in which they will be used.

Hammermills

Hammermills are used to shatter or pulverize materials. The most common

configuration is a chamber containing a rotary drum with swiveling hammers of
hardened bar or chain. The chamber is typically gravity-fed, and output screens
control the size of particle produced. Hammer material, configuration and
distribution, and rotation speed are a few of the factors that determine the type
of material that can be processed.

Shear Shredders

Shear Shredders employ rotary cutters or guillotine-style knives to cut materials

rather than pulverizing, chipping or grinding. Shears can be found in many
different configurations for different industries. Feed types, speeds and type and
number of knives differ according to the applications.

Specialty Shredders

Specialty Shredders that are designed for a particular type of material may utilize
combinations of the above processes or unique devices developed especially for that
material. Tire shredders, for instance, typically use one or more rotary shafts or
screws, with interlocking lugs, cams, teeth or blades. The feed is configured to
force the tires between the shafts or the shaft and machine surfaces, where the
lugs, etc. forcefully tear the tire into small pieces. The shafts are generally
rotated at low speeds, under very high torque.

Other special purpose applications present challenges that require unique design
features in shredding equipment. Shredders for safe disposal of medical refuse
require extremely close tolerances, to render sharps, tape and other small waste
products into particles too small to be recognized. Medical waste shredders usually
employ rotary grinders to ensure this. Since medical waste is usually sterilized
before destruction, these machines often need to incorporate a method for dealing
with liquids.

Secure, high technology applications often require the destruction of waste within
a clean room. This requires special filtering and dust traps to maintain the dust-
free environment.

Fibrous waste and thin sheet goods such as plastic films may present problems for
conventional shredders. Specialized shredders are available for reconstitution and
recycling of both these types of material.

�All-Purpose� Shredders

'All Purpose' Shredders are the heart of major demolition operations and many
municipal recycling programs. The machinery usually consists of large, very low
speed, high-torque shafts or drums with carbide cams or studs, sometimes equipped
with hydraulic rams to assist with the feed. Many of these shredders are capable of
reducing entire refrigerators, cars, or other oversized equipment to small pieces
in a single pass. They are most often combined with external systems that remove
hazardous liquids, gases or solids, sort metals from other materials and otherwise
prepare the shredded material for disposal and/or reuse.

Shredder Advantages

As mentioned briefly above, there may be great advantages to using shredders within
your business operations or community. While some advantages will be readily
apparent, others may require some explanation. Industrial shredders are helping
companies and communities address issues from economics to protecting the
environment on many fronts.

Fiscal Advantages

In today�s economic climate, businesses and communities are pressed to find new
ways to cut costs and increase revenues. Shredders may provide new strategic
options to help relieve financial pressures and may offer the opportunity to
produce new income streams. Let�s look at some examples:

Production waste recovery

Any manufacturing process produces a finite amount of waste. While most companies
adopt practices or modifications that minimize this waste, the small amount of raw
material that�s lost in processes like molding, punching, casting or trimming is
often considered to be a necessary loss. Modern shredder technologies, however, may
provide a way to recover most of that loss.

For instance, in an injection molding process, if only 2% of the injected plastic

is trimmed in cleaning up the product and a production line uses 2lbs. of styrene
for each product, that translates to 0.64oz. of plastic per product. At first
glance, this may seem to be an acceptable loss. However, in an operation that
produces 3,000 products per day:

.64 X 3,000 = 1,920oz. / 16 = 120lbs. of raw material lost per day

120 / 2lbs. per product = 60 products lost per day

While this example may not be accurate for a given business, it nevertheless
provides a basis for examining the feasibility of recovering lost material.
Multiply the number of lost products per day by the net profit per product and it
may be easy to justify a means to recover the waste.

In this example, the manufacturing company may benefit from the installation of a
granulator or granulators within the molding shop. Modern granulators can be
installed in-line or centrally, to facilitate the best solution for a given
location. Recovered material can then be fed directly back into the process or used
to provide the raw material for other processes, such as thermoformed parts.

Saving recycling costs

Environmental impact is a major concern, so much so that many states have

instituted laws that make recycling of many waste products mandatory for homes and
businesses alike. Unfortunately, while most business owners are environmentally
conscious and happy to comply with these regulations, the cost of recycling can
often be a burden. Commercial recycling costs are rising at an astounding rate.
With an estimated cost of $50 to over $150 per ton to commercially recycle most
materials, cost effectiveness of an outside service may be hard to calculate.

Many companies are realizing cost savings by implementing their own recycling
programs. In general, businesses create considerable amounts or recyclable waste in
their operations, and the support of operations. From containers for raw materials
to break room beverage containers, to packing materials, pallets and more,
recyclables creep into the workplace from several directions. By installing proper
shredders for the types of material that pass through your business, the cost of
disposal can be greatly reduced and perhaps eliminated. In many cases, recycling
can offset operating costs through the re-use or sale of the shredded waste. This
brings us to the next category:

Generating new income streams

Industrial shredders may bring new revenue to business operations by the generation
of new products or raw materials. These products or materials can be used within
the processes of the business, used to create new product lines or marketed
directly.

The lumber and building materials industry has come to make wide use of this
concept. Culled pieces of wood that are unacceptable in board stock are chipped,
combined with resins and pressed into wafer board, used extensively for sheathing,
decking and floor underlayment in building construction. Even sawdust is collected
and processed similarly to create particle board, a dense, relatively inexpensive
sheet goods product with hundreds of building industry uses.

Composite materials of recycled granulated plastic and wood fibers are being
engineered with advantages over traditional lumber such as light weight, higher
strength and mold/mildew resistance. Chipped, shredded or ground bark dust can be
resold for landscaping. Chips not reused are resold to paper mills. Fine chips or
sawdust are processed into pellets for wood stoves.

Not every industry will enjoy this many options for using waste materials, but
these examples may provide the spark necessary to see how putting industrial
shredders, chippers or grinders to work in your own operations might generate
substantial extra income for your business.

Reduction of community development costs

Today�s real estate developers and architectural companies make use of shredding
equipment on building sites to provide many of the advantages we�ve mentioned
above. The results are immediate savings in disposal of recyclable products, reuse
of building materials as landscaping and fill products, and even the use of packing
materials as efficient, low-cost insulation. For those waste products that still
need to be recycled commercially, many recyclers offer substantial discounts for
prepared scrap and some will purchase and collect processed scrap.
Many contractors and developers own portable shredding equipment and large, micro-
community projects often allow builders to make use of permanently installed
shredders.

As with any investment for your business, purchasing shredding equipment deserves
careful consideration. Costs for industrial shredding equipment can be substantial
and careful analysis of cost versus benefits needs to be performed. In many cases,
the financial rewards can offset or outweigh the costs, if the equipment is used to
its full potential.

Environmental Advantages

In today�s world, being �green� is ever-increasingly more important. Our impact on

the environment individually, corporately and as a community weighs heavily on how
we�re perceived by our clients, our friends and associates and the general public.
Consumers in today�s market are more likely to deal with businesses that
demonstrate environmental responsibility. New standards for cleaner community
living have created new concerns for developers and municipalities. Federal, state
and local governments offer incentive programs for energy efficiency and waste
reduction. Industrial shredders play an important role in helping meet the
challenges of becoming environmentally friendly.

Fewer, cleaner landfills

Shredding provides easier handling of recyclable waste, thereby encouraging more

consistent recycling. In many cases, shredded materials can be reused directly
within the operations or communities that disposed of them, resulting in less
overall waste output. By combining shredding equipment with hazardous waste
disposal and recycling, the introduction of heavy metals, toxins and other
hazardous materials into landfills is greatly reduced.

For materials that are committed to landfills, shredding allows for greater
compaction of non-bio-degradable components, creating a more stable fill and
allowing disposal of more waste in less area. Most organic wastes can be composted
and reused after shredding, eliminating thousands of tons of input to landfills per
year and providing valuable resources for consumers.

Preservation of natural resources

Shredding waste allows reuse of metals, reducing the need for new ore mining and
helping preserve our natural resources as well as our landscapes. Scrap yards,
metal fabrication shops and even the auto recycling industry use shredding
equipment to provide mills with clean, recyclable metals in a form that�s easy to
transport and incorporate into their smelting processes.

Processing of waste lumber for engineered and composite materials saves our
forests. Incorporation of granulated plastics helps extend the useful life of
composite building materials, reducing the need to produce more lumber. This also
contributes to a reduction in the use of sawmill kilns, and the fuel they consume.

Reduction of emissions

Industrial shredding of waste provides opportunities to lower greenhouse gases and

toxic emissions on several fronts, some of which may not be immediately obvious.

As an example, in the past, it was a common practice to burn tires at dump sites
before burying the leftover sludge and slag in landfills. Burning vulcanized rubber
produces acrid, toxic smoke that drifts for miles and carries fallout pollutants
that return to the soil and the water supply. With the introduction of tire
shredders, used tires can be recycled as useful products without harmful effects.

Landfill methane is among the most common greenhouse gases. U.S. landfills have
been estimated to pour as much as 450-650 billion cubic feet of methane per year
into the atmosphere. By incorporating recycling programs aided by the use of
shredding equipment, we can reduce the amount of organic waste producing those
methane levels.

Wood smoke is a major contributor to pollution levels in metropolitan areas around

the world. By using shredders to convert waste wood products into pellets and
briquettes, cleaner burning, more efficient fuels are created for wood stoves and
fireplaces, thus reducing the amount of wood smoke introduced into the atmosphere.

Mining and ore smelting operations are also major contributors to air pollution,
through the burning of fossil fuels in their operations and support equipment. By
recovering shredded metals for recycling, we lower the emissions produced by mills
and mining operations.

One less obvious reduction in emissions is through reduced transportation

requirements. As companies adopt in-house recycling programs, many shredded
materials are reused in their own processes, sold, or reduced to a much more
manageable size for easy packaging or hauling. Eliminating the need to transport
some waste and reducing the bulk of hauled waste means less fuel burned by trucks,
trains, planes and ships to move those materials. By recycling waste products, fuel
consumption in the manufacture and shipping of new products is also reduced.

Reduction of water supply contamination

Landfills gather contaminants, heavy metals and other pollutants that leach out as
materials around them decompose. Many of these materials find their way into
subterranean reservoirs and rivers that link to municipal water supplies. Even
relatively �clean� metals like copper and aluminum break down in landfills and
contaminate water supplies. Above-ground sources like wrecking yards and open dump
sites also contaminate water supplies as runoff from rains carries leaking fluids
and salts into streams and rivers. Even worse, dumping of refuse directly into
major rivers has contaminated them with dangerous heavy metals and carcinogens such
as PCBs that make their way into drinking water and even our food supply as fish
and shellfish find their way to our tables.

By adopting responsible recycling and disposable programs at the business and

community levels, we can help lessen the severity of the problem. Shredders help
facilitate responsible recycling by providing waste products that are easier to
sort, handle, package, transport and reuse.

Security Advantages

As briefly mentioned earlier in this guide, industrial shredders may also provide
security for some types of business. Although it is worth noting that this guide is
not concerned with document shredding, the destruction of documents is certainly an
important part of business in the 21st century, (but again this report is about
shredders that are designed for other materials).

Prototype Destruction

A great number of industries develop working prototypes and models during the
production of a new product or product line. These prototypes may be based on one
or more innovative concepts or technologies that would be of great value to
competitors. Reverse engineering a product from a prototype or copying a model
design is a practice that has been employed on more than one occasion by companies
in many industries. Fields that may have a need for the destruction of prototypes
or models include:

� Automobile manufacturing
� Military hardware
� Robotics
� Electronics
� Architecture
� Machine shops
� Metal fabrication
� Aircraft manufacturing
� Communications
� Space exploration

In reality, this list could go on indefinitely. Any industry that manufactures or

designs a useful product or even a novelty runs a certain amount of risk from
prototype theft.

The type of shredding equipment employed for prototype destruction depends, of

course, on the materials involved in the manufacturing process. Demolition and
recycling companies may be able to perform this service, and may be sufficient for
your purposes. Individual business owners should consider the security risks and
the frequency of the need for product destruction as well as the cost of shredding
equipment before deciding which methods to use.

Data Destruction

Every business stores sensitive information on several levels. Accounting records,

client information, account usernames and passwords, bank account information, and
even addresses, phone numbers and birthdays need to be protected in today�s
society. With very few exceptions, that information is committed to magnetic media,
in other words, computer hard drives, backup tapes, CDs, removable disks and
external storage devices from USB flash drives to wireless network drives.

System upgrades, expansions, mergers, downsizing and equipment replacement all

leave records on magnetic media that needs to be eliminated. As you know,
formatting, erasure, and traditional software �wiping� methods don�t ensure that
the data can�t be read. Even mechanical failure of a drive doesn�t prevent
retrieval of the files by non-conventional means.

Complete destruction of drives, discs, tapes, memory sticks and other data storage
is yet another job for industrial shredders. The most common configuration for data
shredders is the all-purpose, rotating shaft type, due to the wide range of
materials involved in the manufacture of data storage devices. Storage device
shells, electronics and media are reduced to bits in a few seconds, rendering the
data unusable.

Secure data destruction services can be hired and may be an inexpensive alternative
to purchasing your own shredding equipment. Some important considerations are the
type of destruction method used and the reputation of the business providing the
service. It is also important to weigh the value of the data to other parties. In-
house data destruction is imperative for some businesses.

Selecting the Right Shredding Equipment

Even before you make the decision to invest in industrial shredding equipment, it�s
important to choose the correct equipment. While it may seem enough to simply know
what operations your equipment will need to perform and the materials it will be
handling, the decision should involve more. There are many points to be considered
and these may affect the feasibility of the equipment for your applications. Let�s
examine those points:

Type of material

The type of material is, of course, among the most important factors in choosing a
shredder and will have a great deal to do with the type of shredder you�ll need.
For instance, if you operate a tree service, sawmill or cabinet shop your shredder
will most likely be handling wood and wood products. A high-speed chipper will
likely be the best choice for your business. Tire centers will require machines
that can handle steel wire and cable along with rubber and nylon. These
applications will be better served by low-speed, multiple shaft machines with
interlocking cutters or cams and very high torque.

Plastics have low melting points and will generally need to be shredded at
relatively low speeds, or cut, to avoid clogging machinery. Granulators and similar
machinery will be the most likely choice for companies that manufacture plastics or
for plastic operations in recycling centers.

Construction and demolition companies, business and municipal recycling centers and
some manufacturing industries may need to handle the disposal of many different
materials. Depending on how the shredded materials are to be used or disposed of,
individual units may be used to process each material, or an all-purpose solution
may be the more cost effective choice.

Simply stated, the type or types of material to be shredded will determine the type
of shredding action required. Fortunately, most modern shredders are designed and
manufactured for particular groups of materials, so the guesswork has been mostly
eliminated.

Output requirements

Output requirements for your shredded waste will also help determine the type of
equipment to install. Tire recycling centers, for instance, may simply ship their
shredded output to other facilities for separation, re-shredding and grinding. If
so, a single-pass shredder or shredders will probably suit their needs and will
probably cost less. If the center intends to create marketable products from their
processes, their shredders will need to be equipped to separate metals from studs
and belts from the output, and to re-shred and/or grind the output to produce the
final product.

In mixed scrap recycling applications, some operations will simply want to reduce
the size of the waste to facilitate easier transportation to a recycling facility.
Optionally, a business or community may want to handle all processing of
recyclables within their own operations. This will require the addition of sorting
and separating stages. Depending on the intended use of separated outputs, baling
or compaction equipment may be required.

As previously mentioned, it may also be possible to directly reuse shredder output

within your own processes or to create a marketable product. Cabinet shops, for
instance, may be able to process their waste to create wood pellets or briquettes
for use in wood stoves.

Capacity

Capacity will be determined by the physical size and amount of material to be

handled. Capacity may be limited by more than hopper size. For instance, a tire
shredder with a hopper large enough to accept a heavy equipment tire may not have a
drum or cutters of sufficient size to accept the tire. Check rated capacities
carefully.

Feed type

Feed type breaks down to two basic types: manual and automatic. Hopper-fed, multi-
purpose shredders most often are manually fed, as the feed for these units tends to
come intermittently, from fork lifts, trucks, bins, or by hand. Horizontal
shredders, such as some wood chippers or plastic extrusion granulators, may be
available with automatic feed options. For operations with a constant supply of
material for the infeed, automatic feed will probably result in less clogging and
less wear to cutting or grinding surfaces. Manually fed shredders may provide a
less expensive alternative. Again, it�s important to examine the needs of the
operation carefully.

Portability

Portability is often a factor in selecting a shredder. While conventional recycling

centers don�t normally need to be mobile, demolition companies, construction firms,
landscapers and other enterprises may realize the most benefit from the ability to
use their shredding equipment on-site. Shredded materials can be transported from
the job site more easily, and in many cases may be reusable directly on the job.
For example, pulverized concrete can be used as aggregate in new concrete, or as
fill material. Likewise, shredded wood can be immediately used as mulch for
landscaping.

Portable shredders range greatly in size and care should be taken to determine the
size that best suits your needs. It�s also essential to consider power or fuel
requirements for a unit that will be moved from site to site.

Process location options

Process Location Options can be a major factor in selecting shredding equipment.

Referring back to the earlier example of an injection molding process, granulator
units are available in under-process models that can accept trimmings directly from
production lines, or as larger, central units that require the excess material to
be brought to the shredder by conveyor or other means. Either of these options may
be more viable and cost effective for a given application.

Similar options may be available in many applications and may make a considerable
difference in the cost of purchasing and operating the equipment. There are a
number of factors that coincide with these basic choices, for instance the cost of
retrofitting existing equipment for in-line installations.

Health and safety concerns

Health and safety concerns are often overlooked in the selection of shredding
equipment. Many shredding operations create large amounts of dust and airborne
particles. Shredding or grinding equipment may need to include dust containment and
removal systems to protect employees and/or operations. This becomes particularly
important for equipment that will be operated indoors and in crowded locations.

Noise

Noise is another critical consideration that�s often forgotten. Shredding and

grinding processes can produce noise levels far above safe hearing ranges. While
hearing protection is always a good idea and often required by OSHA, it is
important to note that the community where your equipment is located may have legal
noise limitations that might determine the type of shredding equipment you can use
in your location.

Even low-speed shredders can produce flying fragments. Brittle metals and plastics
can break apart violently under pressure and this can result in various projectiles
with the potential to do great harm to employees and surrounding structures or
equipment. While most manufacturers make sure that shredder housings can withstand
the impact of these objects and keep them contained, openings like hoppers and feed
doors may need additional guards to avoid mishaps.

Maintenance and repair

Maintenance and repair are a necessary part of operating any kind of industrial
equipment and shredders are no exception. In fact, considering the stresses these
machines endure, even the best-built shredders may be considered high maintenance.
Most notably, knives, cams, cutters, hammers, etc. will wear under normal use and
will need sharpening or adjusting. Breakage of these parts is also possible, from
accidental feed of materials the machine isn�t designed for, such as a spike in a
wood chipper or a titanium rod in a general-purpose shredder.

The hours of downtime required for maintenance or repair of equipment may help
determine the feasibility of using that equipment. Consider the options carefully.
Does a shredder have replaceable blades, or is it necessary to replace a shaft?
Which takes more time? How difficult is it to set blade tolerances? Does it require
a tear-down of the machine? How readily available are replacement parts? What parts
need lubrication? How often? These questions and more are worth the time it takes
to ask them.

There are other choices to be made and many other considerations before deciding to
purchase industrial shredding equipment. Throughput speeds, physical size, power
requirements (and associated operating costs), weather resistance, and many other
factors will all have some bearing on what kind of equipment to buy, and whether
it�s practical to buy the equipment in the first place.

Conclusion

This guide is intended as a general overview of industrial shredders, their use and
the potential advantages of operating them, as well as some important
considerations in selecting equipment. It�s our hope that readers will be able to
use this information to help decide whether shredders are a good investment for
their purposes, and if so, what equipment is best suited to their requirements.

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SYSTEM
Designed for use also very intensive, they are made with very high quality
components: from special steel blades, up to the grids with anti-wear treatments
which allow a drastic reduction of maintenance interventions. All Coparm shredders
are the result of many years of experience and the result of design with the best
technology. The shredders are built tough and their life cycle is longer thanks to
features such as cooling systems and inverters.
The configurations of shredders vary in power of the motors, which are dimensioned
according to the materials to be shredded, for type and extent of cutting edges,
for weight and dimensions. For information and details, please consult the data
sheet for each single shredder.

Shredders have easy maintenance, nevertheless Coparm provides after-sales service

and advice on all crushing plants sold. Done for a high hourly production, grind
easily bundled material of great thickness and volume, and fascias such as reams of
paper, newspapers in strapped logs, books, telephone books and even picture of
paper reels. To meet the international standards, on request, all our shredders can
be efficiently with soundproofing system dust suppression.
The classification grids to hydraulic mining and easily replaceable, have different
light passing depending on the security needs of the customer.
Shredding of waste similar industrial and commercial, general waste, bulky waste,
logs, waste wood, demolition wood, organic material, pallets, twigs and pruning