Are Spiral-Bound Notebooks Acceptable In With My Shredding?

According to Cambridge.org, a spiral notebook is “a book of paper for writing that is held together by a wire that curves around and around through small holes at the edge of the paper.

Of course, the paper and the cardboard cover are recyclable, shredable items, but the metal spiral binding is questionable in both respects.

Can I Put Plastic Binders In With My Shredding?

Plastic spiral binding, also called comb binding, “is one of many ways to bind pages together into a book. This method uses round plastic spines with 19 rings (for US Letter size) or 21 rings (for A4 size) and a hole puncher that makes rectangular holes. Comb binding is sometimes referred to as plastic comb binding or spiral comb binding.”

Since these binders are made of plastic, some recycling centers will accept them in their recycling bins. Shredding them may be a bit of a different story.