It seems simple enough-paper shredders shred paper, right? Sort of. “Shred” is a sort of catchall word used to describe the mechanized pcess of destroying confidential or sensitive papers to ensure private information is not revealed to others. While all paper shredders have the same goal, they don’t all achieve their objective in the same manner or with the same level of effectiveness.

The two main types of paper shredders are strip-cut and cross-cut (confetti-cut). Strip-cut models are also known as straight-cut or spaghetti-cut and cut the paper into long strips about