How to burn up a lot of thick paper?

[meanwhile]

I need to burn up a lot of paper. It has to be burnt and cannot be recycled. (It is old personal paper and very old outdated bank statements from deceased family and I got stuck with it.) I have about twelve large size boxes full. Boxes about the size of a large brown paper grocery bag.

If I pour gas on the boxes, will that help or only be dangerous?

Would pouring diesel fuel on the paper and giving it time to soak in help?

I am worried that if I just set the boxes in the burn pile, then only the top layer of paper will burn and the rest just set there and blow away later.

Any suggestions? Thank you.

[arabian knight]

How about a shredder? They are very inexpensive. I have been doing that for the last few nights with old bank statements etc. Shredders work great. Burn great after that also. LOL

[po boy]

You would have to have a very large shredder to handle this much in a reasonable time. I have a large floor commercial floor model and would not attempt to shred that much. It might be efficient if you shred only the personal identity information. Just cut that portion out to shred can an the rest. It would be nice if you knew someone with an incinerator.

Look in the yellow pages for companies that shred doc.

[mekasmom]

If the people are deceased, then is identity theft still a hazard? Personally, I would just throw it away.

[DaleK]

Set the boxes up on some large branches or wood blocks and burn them from the bottom. Put some wire screen or a chunk of chain link fence or something over the top, or more branches and leaves and what not. Burning from below is the most important part. The more you can loosen the papers up the better too.

[Pony]

Yeah, what DaleK said.

[Old Vet]

It is better if you wad it up before burning. I know it will take some time but it will burn all the way. I had to do this with old records to be sure it all burned. If you dont do this there will be pieces that will not be burned.

[kimmom2five]

There are professional shredding services. They come to your home or wherever and you watch them shred it then they haul it away. I had a friend use one for all her husband's counseling records and he was a paper pack rat too. I believe the price was very reasonable.

[Pony]

Originally Posted by Old Vet

It is better if you wad it up before burning. I know it will take some time but it will burn all the way. I had to do this with old records to be sure it all burned. If you don't do this there will be pieces that will not be burned.

Yeah, but you could rake up the stuff that wasn't burned and re-burn it. Would take less time than balling up all that paper.

Or, the OP could burn it a box at a time...

[Pony]

Originally Posted by kimmom2five

There are professional shredding services. They come to your home or wherever and you watch them shred it then they haul it away. I had a friend use one for all her husband's counseling records and he was a paper pack rat too. I believe the price was very reasonable.

When you work as a counselor/therapist, you HAVE to save all those files. If you don't, you can get in a boatload of trouble.

I'm still hauling around files from when I was in private practice.

[Appalachia]

Why waste the carbon?
Pick out the sensitive pages/portions of pages and compost it.

[Wolfy-hound]

Make certain you put some sort of screening over it so the paper doesn't float up and become a hazard to start a fire elsewhere.

I forgot that last time I was burning stacks of paper. Can get scary. I'd add some oil and let it soak through overnight at least. I poured lamp oil on a big stack and set it in a cardboard box outside and it soaked through really nicely.

[bassmaster17327]

Why couldn't you compost it or eve just bury it? I have burned stacks of magazines before and it was a pain

[luvrulz]

Use a professional shredder....clean and easy peasy.

[MichaelZ]

If you have kids, have them take the papers a few at a time, crumple into balls and stuff into big plastic trash bags - these will burn up in a flash. This is what I do with my office paper. If you don't have kids, you will need to get crumpling yourself!

You are right though, if the paper is not spread out, it will not burn. Kind of like flour. Try to light up a whole bag in the bag and you get no where. Disperse a whole bag finely in the air and it is explosive. Surface area is the key.

[pamda]

I am using huge amounts of shredded paper from my dads stuff and my sisters in-laws. Sister has a shredder that makes confetti. It has gone in the coop and the garden. Just shred as much as you can when you can. Burning it could be a messy thing.

[Shawn]

Check with your local bank. My mom's has 1 or 2 days a year where they bring in the big professional shredding truck and will turn it into confetti.

[jwal10]

I just did 8 big garbage bags today, old bank papers and old checks and stuff. Good hot fire in the burn barrel and throw 3-4 pages in at a time. Took 20 minutes. I usually just shred it to use in garden or chicken coop but my little shredder is slow, one page at a time. I had 6 boxes of checks with staples and figured I might as well burn it all. I had some cardboard to make a good fire....James

[clovis]

Start with a good hot fire with a good coal base, and start tossing those papers in as loosely as possible.

[fishhead]

I would suggest either a shredding service or you could try to compost them after soaking them thoroughly in ammonia water.

Just fill a plastic tank with water and ammonia (for the nitrogen) and set the papers in until they get waterlogged. Then take them out and pile loosely.