A pre-shredder can be an asset to any recycling system, but it is not always a necessary add-on.

There are a few different ways to determine whether a pre-shredder may be worth it for you and your operations, and the best option depends on what materials you are processing, quality control, and your processing volume.

If you are just using a shredder on its own, you can typically dump the material directly into it. This works well for most operations. However, if you need time to manually sort through the material before shredding, you can add a conveyor in front of the shredder. We have had customers do this so their team can sort the wire as it moves up the conveyor and into the shredder.

But, if you are going to use a conveyor and feed pieces manually for quality control, you might want to consider skipping the shredder altogether and upgrading to a larger granulator. While this might result in more wear and tear on the granulator and cause it to heat up more than with a shredder in front, it can be a more cost-effective and efficient setup. The main benefit of a conveyor prior to a shredder or granulator is for quality control, allowing you to sort the material by hand as it moves.

Your processing volume is a large factor to consider before installing a pre-shredder. For example, pairing a 25HP shredder with a 40HP granulator works well for handling larger loads. You can drop a 1,500 lb or 2,000 lb box of wire into the shredder, and it will have enough torque to process it. However, if you are looking to shred full wire bales, it is more efficient to use a large dual-shaft or quad-shaft shredder without a conveyor.

In short, if you are looking to process full pallet boxes in one go, go with the pre-shredder setup into a granulator. If you are manually sorting with a conveyor prior to your processing equipment, consider skipping the pre-shredder and, instead, upgrading your granulator. And, if you are looking to process full wire bales at once, go with a dual- or quad-shaft shredder on your front-end.

If you have more questions on pre-shredders, please reach out to us!