Different grades of cross-cut shredders

Many documents at work or home contain valuable, private information that is for your eyes only. They include bank and credit card statements with account numbers, health care documents with social security numbers, proprietary contract proposals with monetary and time-period bids, and CDs and other media devices containing confidential files. Cross-cut paper shredders render all of that information unrecognizable, and they're just one step below micro-cut shredders in the level of security they provide, according to Defense Department and NSA standards for media destruction. These products are available in commercial, personal, and industrial models, determined by the size of the output bin and the amount of paper or media the unit can accommodate, including whether the paper shredder offers manual or automatic feed or both.

Personal and commercial cross-cut paper shredders

Shredders for personal and home-office use still destroy paper documents into confetti-style particles, but they have smaller bin sizes, normally from 2 to 4 gallons, and they accept between 6 and 10 sheets of paper or one hard media at a time. Still, like larger commercial-grade shredders, they feature sensors that start and stop the chopping process automatically once the user feeds the paper into the opening, as well as thermal sensors to prevent overheating.

Commercial-grade cross shredders have bin capacities ranging from 6 to 20 gallons and more, as well as sheet-feed capacities of 10 to 24 at a time, including multiple hard-media feeds. The feeder opening is normally from 9 to 16 inches wide, and many offer hoppers that hold paper and media that feed into the machine automatically. They offer other conveniences as well, including touchscreen displays for start, stop, and reverse, PIN-lock protection during the process, and jam-proof and quiet-shred technologies.

Industrial-grade shredders

The qualities of commercial and industrial shredders overlap, but the capacities of heavy-duty paper shredders are impressive. They can have up to 35-gallon bins, can cut up to 34 paper sheets or multiple hard media at one time, and have automatic hopper capacities of up to 350 to 750 paper sheets at one time, even combined with hard media and bound books.

Shredder brands

Manufacturers of other office equipment also specialize in cross-cut shredder technology. They include well-known names like:

• Dahle
• Fellowes®
• IDEAL
• Swingline®

Many other cross-cut paper shredder manufacturers also produce high-quality personal, commercial, and industrial machines, and you can check out all of them at Quill.com.