7 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Metal Shredder

Have you been thinking about how to deal with all of your metal waste? Have you considered a metal shredder as an option?

A metal shredder can help improve business efficiency, as it will allow you safely dispose of waste, clearing up time and space for you to proceed with other activities of your business.

However, there are a number of different factors that go into choosing the right shredder for your needs. Here are the seven questions you need to ask when choosing a metal shredder.

1. What Does A Metal Shredder Do?

While you might already know a thing or two about metal shredding, it’s good to be clear on what these devices can be used for so you get the most out of your shredder.

A metal shredder can be used in the following applications:

• Reducing your business’ metal waste to more movable material (e.g. strips or small particles)
• Destroying sensitive information stored on electronic devices
• Assisting with recycling
• Allowing metal to be reused or repurposed

Disposing of metal properly is important to not only make your business more efficient, but also to protect the environment and safeguard your investments. The importance of each factor may vary depending on your business, but regardless, you should consider each of them before committing to a particular metal shredder.

2. What Will You Be Shredding?

Next, determine what exactly you will be shredding. This takes into account the following components:

• The type of metal
• The type of objects and their shape
• Whether the metal contains sensitive information

Certain shredders are more appropriate for different types of materials. For example, if the metal being fed into the machine is a hard alloy, a stronger shredder will be needed. On the other hand, a standard metal shredder can handle items such as thin strips of aluminum.

3. What Shredding Capacity Do You Need?

There are two sub-questions to be asked in regards to metal shredder capacity:

• Will you be shredding a lot or a little?
• How often will you be shredding?

If your business produces large amounts of metal waste on a daily basis, you’ll want a machine with a higher capacity, meaning you will be able to feed more metal into the machine at a higher rate.

You should also check out the cool-down time of the shredder. Shredders use a lot of energy as they heat up very quickly. Make sure that the shredder you want is going to be able to be used as often as you want.

4. What Safety Features Do You Need?

The safety features you need will likely depend on who will be using the machine and what is being shredded.

If the people using the machine are inexperienced, it’s a good idea to get one that can be used easily. However, if you are shredding large or complex items, this may not be possible.

Safe metal shredders will have features such as protective screens and auto-shutdowns.

5. What Are Your Space Constraints?

This one might seem obvious, but it’s an essential factor to consider. If you are operating a small warehouse, you may only have room for a small shredder. If that’s the case, hopefully, you aren’t shredding bulk materials.

Before you purchase a shredder, do an audit of your current business space, and see how your available space can be optimized. Once you’ve worked out how much space you have to spare, you will know the maximum shredder size you can get.

6. How Do You Want Your Metal to Be Shredded?

There are four main ways that a metal shredder will cut:

• Grind
• Strip-cut
• Cross-cut
• Particle-cut

A metal grinder will destroy the metal completely and transform it into dust.

A strip-cut shredder reduces the metal into strips, much like a standard paper shredder.

A cross-cut shredder works by making two separate cuts. It will make one cut one way (e.g. vertical) and then cut again the other way (e.g. horizontal). As a result, the pieces coming out on the other side will be small pieces, often in the shape of squares or diamonds.

The particle-cut shredder uses multiple cuts to create a more specific shape than the cross-cut shredder.

Deciding which of these shredding methods is best for you will have a lot to do with the type of metal you are cutting, as well as how you plan to transport it once it’s been cut.

If you are dealing with sensitive information on electronics, you may want a shredder that cuts the metal into smaller pieces so that nothing slips through.

7. What Extra Features Do You Need?

There are a lot of different metal shredder features that go beyond the considerations outlined above. For example, some metal shredders will also work with other materials, such as wood and plastic.

Other metal shredders will come with features that impact the ease of use, or give you greater control over its operation.

To determine which extra features you might want, it’s best to look at the available shredders and see what they offer. They might have features you didn’t know existed or could have a use for. Often, these features will provide a lot of added value, so take the time to review them.

Get Shredding

A metal shredder provides an excellent solution for those dealing with business waste. It can improve efficiency in your workplace by quickly destroying materials that are no longer needed.

It also makes it easier to remove this waste from the building or worksite. Additional benefits include assisting with recycling, destroying sensitive electronic information, and helping to reuse metal waste for other purposes.

It’s important to consider all the different ways that a metal shredder can work for your business before choosing one. By answering the questions above, you should be able to choose a shredder that maximizes your business’ efficiency.

So, now that you’ve worked out everything you need to know about how to choose the right shredder, the only question that remains is where to find it?

Don’t wait around — check out our range of industrial shredders and get shredding today!