Every year in the USA, around 140 million to 150 million tons of solid waste is disposed of at landfills. According to a report released by The World Bank, by 2050, the global waste would have grown by 3.40 billion tons.

This means that if we continue to produce our solid waste at this rate, by 2050, our landfills will have run out of space, and we will have nowhere else but the oceans to bury our solid waste. Another heart-wrenching report by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) states that by 2050, we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish.

So, the only solution that remains to tackle the solid waste mismanagement head-on is through solid waste shredding.

What is Solid Waste Shredding?

Before sending the municipal solid waste (MSW) to the landfills for disposal, solid waste is sorted, shredded and compacted to reduce the space that it will occupy at the landfills. Large industrial shredders or grinders are used to shred large items like wooden panels, wooden frames, mattresses, plastic sheets, glass blocks, appliances, etc., to turn them into small pieces. These small pieces are collected and packed together. Waste compactors are used to exert pressure from all sides and give this packed solid waste a cubical shape.

These cubes of solid waste are then sent to the landfills and piled on top of one another so that less space is occupied at the landfills. The main idea behind solid waste shredding is solid waste reduction and management at landfills.

Moreover, after the shredding of solid waste, large overhead magnets are used to separate metal from other materials. These metal pieces like the ones obtained from shredded aluminum cans or appliances can be reused to make new products.

Benefits of Solid Waste Shredding

1. Waste Reduction

Solid waste shredding reduces the amount of solid waste at landfills and creates more space. The sorted, shredded, and compacted solid waste is easier to move, manage, and bury as compared to heaps of unsorted and un-shredded solid waste that clutters and pollutes our landfills.

Thanks to solid waste shredding, we are able to utilize and manage the space at our landfills more efficiently and prevent them from running out of space.

2. Less Contamination

Heavy metals, such as lithium, magnesium, zinc, cobalt, mercury, cadmium, etc., are found in many devices, electronic appliances and everyday household items that we discard as part of our solid waste. When the solid waste is sent to the landfills without sorting and shredding, these heavy metals seep into the soil and contaminate our groundwater and nearby freshwater resources such as lakes, streams and rivers.

Most farmers use groundwater to cultivate crops. Crops that are cultivated with this contaminated groundwater can pass into our food chain and cause food poisoning and other health consequences. Similarly, when people and animals drink contaminated water from rivers and streams, it leads to cases of mercury and lead poisoning.

In the past, every year, 412,000 people used to die in the USA because of lead poisoning. And according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), in 2017 alone, 1.06 million people had died because of lead poisoning globally.

But solid waste shredding reduces the contamination of waste bodies and groundwater because, after the shredding of solid waste, magnets are used to separate metal from shredded solid waste.

3. Reduced Cost of Transportation

Large components that are a part of the municipal solid waste, such as large appliances, tree trunks, construction waste (wooden frames, panels, sheets, steel rods, big blocks, etc.), old furniture, mattresses, etc. occupy a lot of space in the dumpsters that are used to transport the waste from collection sites to the landfills outside the city.

As the large solid waste items occupy more space, fewer items will be transported each time, and therefore, the transportation cost will increase because either more dumpsters will have to be rented or the same ones will have to perform repeated journeys to dispose of all the waste at landfills.

But when heavy-duty and high-power shredders are used for solid waste shredding, the large items are shredded into smaller pieces and compacted into blocks for safe, speedy and easy transportation. On a single journey, dumpsters can carry around one-third of all the municipal solid waste out of the city, and this leads to reduced cost of transportation.

New Jersey Shredding

At New Jersey Shredding, we provide safe, speedy and environmentally-friendly shredding services to our valued customers. We are specialized in document shredding, hardware destruction, X-ray destruction, medical waste disposal, and electronics recycling.

To get your free quote today, call us at (201) 371-5900.

New Jersey Shredding – Let Us Remind You What Great Service Looks Like!