When choosing a paper shredder it is important that you first answer the questions below, this will help you select the most appropriate shredder for your needs.
How frequently will the the shredder be used?
Who needs a Shredder?
How confidential is the information you wish to shred?
Difference Between Cross Cut and Strip Cut Paper Shredder?
How frequently will the the shredder be used?
The environment in which the shredder is placed is usually the best guide to how much shredding a machine will have to undertake and if it is the right type of machine to best
meet your needs.
Home
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Ideal for a single user who works from home
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Designed for light use - typically 20 sheets per day
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Economical way to ensure that homeworkers can shred confidential business information
Home & Office
Office
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Ideal for shared use in an office environment
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Designed for medium duty use (not continuous) - typically 50-100 sheets per day
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Heavy-duty design to withstand everyday office use
Company
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High performance, high volume shredding machines designed for continuous use
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Ideal as a centralised machine for all company users or in departments such as Accounts or IT, where continuous shredding is needed
Who needs a Shredder?
It’s not just the ‘obvious’ places like Accounts Departments which need to dispose of information securely. Consider some of the following...
| Department | Examples of information which needs to be kept confidential |
| Personnel |
Salary information, personal data, restructuring plans, etc |
| Sales & Marketing |
New product ideas, customer data, competitor information, sales forecasts, etc |
| Production |
Production methods, new tooling, drawings, costings |
| Reception |
Visitor information |
| Photocopier |
Wherever there’s a photocopier, there’s a security risk through spoiled or surplus copies of sensitive documents |
| Home offices |
Credit card slips, bank statements, personal data and company confidential data |
How confidential is the information you wish to shred?
The security a paper shredder provides is determined by how small the paper is the shredded - with the levels of security rated by a DIN Security Level - ranging from 1-5. The DIN level of each shredder model can be found in the features listing.
DIN Security Levels & Cutting Styles
| Level | Description | Cutting Style | Suggested Usage |
| 1 |
Low Level - General paperwork |
Strip Cut (10.5mm)
Cross Cut (10.5mm x 40-80mm) |
Everyday documents, receipts |
| 2 |
Everyday - Everyday documents |
Strip Cut (3.9mm) |
Financial information |
| 3 |
Confidential - Confidential documents |
Bulk reduction
Cross Cut (3.9mm x 30mm) |
Sales data, personal and personnel documents |
| 4 |
Sensitive - Sensitive documents |
Cross cut (1.9mm x 15mm) |
Personal files |
| 5 |
Top Secret - Secret documents |
Cross cut (0.78mm x 11mm) |
Governments and military documents |
Further information on DIN Security and examples of the shredded paper output can be viewed on our DIN Security page.
Difference Between Cross Cut and Strip Cut Paper Shredder?
There are two basic types of shredder, cross cut and strip cut. Which you choose depends on your security needs. A strip cut shredder literally tears the paper into long strips while a cross-cut model tears it two ways into tiny chips or particles. Common-sense tells you that crosscut shreds will be more secure, but they also have the added advantage that the shreds compact under their own weight - so the waste container needs emptying far less often. However, because less cutting is required, strip cut machines can shred more sheets of paper in one go than its cross cut equivalents.
 Cross Cut Shredders
Cross-cut shredders create crisscross cut pieces of paper. These crisscross cut pieces of paper vary in size from 0.78mm x 11mm to 10.5mm x 80mm. |
 Strip Cut Shredders
Strip cut shredders are known as “strip-cut shredders” because of the thin strips they create as they shred paper. These strips can vary in size from 3.9mm wide to 10.5mm wide. |