Shredder Supplement -- Welcome

The Daily Grind (or, is it Hammer Time?)

Size reduction is a term gaining favor in the recycling industry to describe shredders, grinders and a number of other machine categories.

It is a polite term, but many recyclers (and some writers, for what it’s worth) still seem to like the more descriptive terms: shredders, pulverizers, crushers, grinders, hammermills, hogs—a colorful collection of words that make no effort to hide the fact that a destructive process is taking place.

But what is destructive for the materials entering these hungry machines is productive for a range of recycled product makers. Most of what is crushed, ground and hammered at a scrap yard or other recycling facility is being prepared as an industrial feedstock or for an end use.

From ferrous shred bound for a steel mini-mill to granulated plastic headed for re-use by the plastics industry, the end result of these “destructive” processes is to produce a marketable material to help close the recycling loop.

In the 1999 Shredder Guide, we take a look at size reduction technology as it is applied within several different segments of the recycling industry:

After a tough year for ferrous scrap processors, are they ready to rev up their auto shredders to full capacity? Does ferrous shred still make the grade with steel mills?

The construction and demolition (C&D) segment involves the process-ing of several different materials, most of which need to be “reduced” in some way or another.

Medium and low-speed shredders can handle the destruction of pliant recyclables like scrap tires and plastic film.

Certainly, there is no shortage of topics to write about in the growing field of size reduction.

Also included is a glossary of terms and a directory of companies that manufacture shredders, grinders and other size reduction equipment, as well as many supplier companies.

So whether you come to work each day to hammer, crush, grind or pulverize, we hope you’ll find useful information in our 1999 Shredder Guide.