Shredded!

The box of shredded paper was filled beyond capacity.  All that was lacking, was the time to do something about it.  In the the Microcosm and at the Mini-camp, shredded paper is used as kindling.  Rather than put the shredded material directly into the fire pit, we first "package" it into usable  "portions."  This is required for storage and transportation.  Some of this will be used at home, some of it will be taken to camp.

The best way to "package" the shreds, is to use paper lunch bags.  These are also burnable.  A package of 40 can be found at Dollar Tree, making this a cheap material too.

This box yielded 15 bags.  If time had permitted, other burnables would have been added -- shaved candles and drier lint make a nice addition.  Time was the issue, so these were just bagged and stapled in a quick open time slot.

One package can be nested in among a couple of logs and other wood kindling.  Most of it will be stored at home and two or three bags brought with for each trip to camp in the summer.

In addition to these bags, we also save our wine corks.  Real corks can be soaked in 90% isopropyl alcohol.  A weaker solution will not ignite as well, and the 90% strength not only lights well, it burns better too. We use the cork as a started and the bag as kindling.  As former girl and boy scouts, ignition fluid is only used as a last resort.   Broken candles or a short chunk of an emergency candle is helpful as well.  A box of 10 emergency candles lasts a long time -- we will cut one into four pieces and use one per fire.

This is our way to securely dispose of sensitive printed information, recycle and save money.  What do you do with your shredded paper?