Shredders are machines designed to coarsely shred waste, recyclable materials or bulky waste. They differ in terms of shaft configuration and the type of material they are designed to process.
The main types are single-shaft shredders (for plastics, paper, documents, light materials), twin-shaft shredders (for bulky materials such as wood, mattresses, tyres), four-shaft shredders (for a defined final particle size), hammer mills (for metal, stone, minerals) and document shredders for the secure destruction of documents.
Leading manufacturers include Lindner, UNTHA, Vecoplan, HSM, WEIMA, BHS Sonthofen, Hammel, ZerMa, Doppstadt and Komptech.
Shredders are used in recycling and waste disposal, at scrap yards, in plastics processing, in the tyre recycling industry, in document destruction, at recycling centres and in industrial in-house pre-shredding.