If you have a fire pit, or something similar that can contain a small fire, burning the documents will make it very hard to recover the information.
Just be sure that the part where the information is located is burned, and use a stick or something to break down the ashes.
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/11641/Dragonrage
Blender or food processor with water.
Turn it into pulp.
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/12745/Tristan
There isn't much substitute for the standby methods, burning or shredding.
Most secure is to crosscut shred, then burn, and finally disrupt the ashes by grinding into fine powder or washing down a drain.
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/9830/Zeiss Ikon
Bath full of water, and then a sharp knife swilled around once they are nice and soggy will do a great job of destoying everything.
Add bleach or something corrosive to ensure ink is wreaked beyond readability.
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/1558/djsmiley2kStaysInside
If you don't mind manual labour, you can tear it by hand.
Since tearing it by hand isn't perfect, you can cut out the important part and scatter it across different locations.
This will avoid people finding the jigsaw puzzle pieces!
Also, if you are really bored, you can compete with someone else (that you trust) to see who can tear the most number of papers at once
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/1685/Ismael Miguel
Take the papers to your local copy shop and let them shred it for you.
This is probably the easiest way to take care of them.
For example, Fedex/Kinkos will shred documents for 99 cents per pound (around 100 sheets per pound depending on paper size and thickness).
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/1563/Johnny
Folding the paper onto it itself several times, then cutting the result as small as you can with strong scissors (nibbling away mm by mm), a carpet knife, bolt/ wire cutters, sandpaper/whetstone ... will give you a lot of cutting for a little :)
I mention wire cutters because good wire cutters WILL cut paper too, and will probably survive a stack of paper better than average scissors :)
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/10498/rackandboneman
In cases like this, I tear or cut them into strips and put the strips alternately with the old paper and with the compostables (fruit and veg remains).
Anybody wanting to recreate them will have to sort through huge amounts of old paper and rummage through disgusting compost.
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/2317/NL_Derek
Has anyone suggested simply burying them?
It would take a bit of effort to dig the hole, but the paper would biodegrade in no time.
Alternatively, mix them in with garden waste and potato peelings and the like and it will all eventually become compost.
Use that on your garden and nourish your plants with those unwanted reports and correspondence.
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/12755/maguirenumber6
How to completely destroy sensitive paper documents—without shredding or burning.
You'll need an old pair of panty-hose with no holes in them.
One pair of panty-hose will be enough for two "treatments.
" Cut off a leg of the panty-hose.
Put your documents into one leg of the panty-hose and knot it tightly closed.
Toss it into the washer.
Put it through a wash cycle with some detergent. Done. Discard
the wad of wet fibre residue without removing it from the 'bag.'
I have not yet found any personal information that survives this treatment.
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4698/Stan
Eating the doucment always works and you don't need fuel source or nearby water source.
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/6606/Theodosius Von Richthofen
I have thought of 2 solutions for this: Burn the document.
Use a match to ignite its edges (Be careful) and let it burn slowly (NOT in flames).
The fire will slowly eat through the document.
Burn it until the essential part of the document is gone, then put it out by blowing at it.
For safety reasons, it may be best to do this above a bathtub filled with water.
Also, be careful not to burn your hand.
Throw the document into water.
After several minutes, it will be extremly soft and easy to rip.
Just remove it from the water and rip it by hand into tens or hundreds of small paper pieces, easily.
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/12786/John
I have some documents that have sensitive information on them, which for obvious reasons I do not want others to get their hands on. How can I destroy these documents so that others cannot read them? I don't have access to a paper shredder, which is generally the recommended way of destroying them.
How can I destroy sensitive documents without a paper shredder?
lifehacks.stackexchange.com
<substitute-tool><privacy>
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/11242
lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/11641/Dragonrage
There are many ways that you can destroy documents without shredding them, and the most obvious ways will be either to burn them or put them in a blender with water and turn them into a pulp. You could also add bleach or something corrosive to wreck the ink beyond readability. As a last resort, you could always shred the documents yourself by hand. The options are to burn the documents, pulp them with water in a food processor, cross-cut shred them and then burn and grind up ashes, soak in a bath with a little bleach, tear up by hand, get a copy shop to shred them, fold and cut with scissors, compost them or place in a panty hose leg and run through the washing machine.
Burn them thoroughly in a fire pit or similar. Pulp them with water in a food processor. Cross-cut shred them then burn and grind up the ashes. Soak in a bath of water with a little bleach. Tear up by hand and scatter the peices. Get a local copy shop to shred them. Fold up several times and cut with strong scissors. Cut them up and compost them. Bury them in the ground. Put them in a panty hose leg, tie up the end the run it through the washing machine. Burn them or soak in the bath and tear into pieces.