Do you have a traveling business? Are you in need of paper shredders?
What you need are portable paper shredders. To find the best portable shredder on the market read on.
Large Shredder Machines
There are many options on the market regarding paper shredders for personal use. Most of them are heavy-duty electric paper shredders that can easily shred at least stack of 6 sheets of paper at the time. But of course they are pricier, and they are pretty big in size so they will take a lot of space.
Small Portable Shredder Machines
There are also smaller and usually cheaper versions of paper shredders available on the market. Most of them can take just one sheet of paper at the time and usually they aren’t suitable for credit cards or CDs. These small shredders can be electric, so they will need batteries or charging, or completely mechanic and manual, just the strength of your muscles is enough to power it.
Portable Paper Shredders
Portable shredders are an amazing option when you have an RV or you travel a lot since you can easily take them with you and shred your sensitive documents on the go. Due to their size they will not take a lot of space. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a paper shredder, or you only have a few documents a week that need to be shredded you can purchase this type of shredder for your home, or even for the office when you’re just too lazy to get up, and it will fit your desk drawer perfectly.
Best Portable Paper Shredders
Best Portable Handheld Light Duty Shredder
Ziszor 33050 The Portable Handheld Paper Shredder
This is a great portable paper shredder for a light-duty home use for dealing with personal documents and junk mail. It is powered by 4 AA batteries so you can use it and carry it anywhere you want, from home offices, kitchens and even cars, so you can destroy unnecessary bills and mail. Its compact size and design makes it perfect for personal use, it fits nicely in your hand and it weighs only 1.5 pound. On the handle there is a two option-manual switch – forward and reverse, which makes it really easy to use.
This shredder cuts paper into long strips wide less than 1/4” and you can’t adjust the width. It is recommended to fold the paper lengthwise before shredding then just inserting it folded straight out of the envelope that will provide you a better level of security since it will be harder to reattach the pieces back together. Since its portable paper shredder, you can shred paper directly over the trash bin or you can even purchase Slide’n Toss catch bags and you can shred on the road.
As mentioned before, this is a great portable shredder for personal use, and it’s great for people who occasionally have some documents to destroy, and they don’t want to spend too much money on bigger versions that will just take up space and collect dust. This one is cordless and small, dimensions are 12.4” x 4.5” x 2.4”, so you can store it anywhere, the drawers, shelves, cars glove compartment or even personal bag. You can shred on the go without anyone knowing you are shredding. This portable paper shredder is light-duty so it will not cut credit cards or some thicker paper, and actually, its limit is one paper sheet folded 2-ways, more than that can cause paper jamming. If you need better performance you might want to consider buying the bigger and pricier paper shredder.
Portable Manual Paper Shredder Machine
Muji Handy Shredder
This MUJI portable shredder is a simple but effective manual shredder; it doesn’t need electricity to power it. You shred paper by simply turning small handle that rotates the blades. It is for light use only, it can fit one sheet at the time, but since it’s small you have to fold it in half lengthwise. It will cut paper into long strips and post cards and even thin aluminum foil, but any thicker material will cause jamming. You can easily fix jamming by twisting blades in opposite direction or with an untwisted paper clip.
Its small size (7.3” x 2” x 1.1”) and compact design makes it a perfect home shredder. If you just occasionally have some unwanted documents to shred, this shredder is great, since you can store it in a desk or kitchen drawer, you can take it anywhere you want with you. Unlike bigger models that take up a lot of space and they have to be plugged in to work, and if you don’t use it so often, it will just collect dust. This manual shredder doesn’t need batteries or any other power source than your own hands, which gives you peace of mind knowing that you can destroy documents anytime you need. And it will give you a dose of satisfaction of shredding paper manually.
As mentioned before, this is a really small plastic shredder, it will take patience if you have more than a few documents to shred, and it’s not good for credit cards, CDs or even staples. If you need a strong tool, you should buy something more serious. If not used properly this shredder can be easily damaged, also this is not a toy so keep it away from children to prevent any injuries.
Portable No Electricity Paper Shredder
Portable Hand-operated Paper Shredder
This is another cheap manual paper shredder similar to the previous model. It is made of plastic and it has sharp blades that cut paper into 3-4 mm wide strips. It can fit and shred one A4 sheet of paper folded in half length. It will shred any kind of documents you might have, from junk mail to tax forms and pay-check sheets, but you will have to remove all the staples and paper clips since they can damage the shredder.
This shredder has a twist handle on one side and it used to manually rotate the blades and cut the paper. This is a perfect home shredder for light use, if you have just a few sensitive documents to destroy.
This is a really easy to use device, it’s really light, it weighs only 5 ounces, and it’s dimensions are 9.8” x 1.1” x 3.8” so it fits in hands perfectly. Also when you don’t need it you can easily store it anywhere, form desk and kitchen drawers, to car glove compartments. And since it doesn’t need batteries or electricity at all, it’s always ready to use.
It doesn’t have trash bin so you can destroy paper directly into the trash or plastic bags to dump later. Since it’s made from plastic you must use it carefully, if you overload it with more paper or some thicker material it can easily jam or even break. Keep it away from the children since it’s not a toy and has sharp blades.
Best Portable Battery Powered Document Shredder
Kikar Usb Mini Paper Shredder
This KIKAR shredder is an electronic portable paper shredder great for personal use. You can charge it with a USB cable or it can be powered by 4 AA batteries when you’re not able to charge it. This shredder is great for households, small offices, RV owners, travelers and anyone who has occasional need for shredding sensitive documents.
This shredder has a 4.5” wide insert slot and it can also shred just one sheet of A4 paper at the time folded lengthwise, into long thin strips providing a good level of security. It is not suitable for credit cards and any thicker materials than 2 layers of paper; otherwise, it can be jammed or damaged.
It is designed to be easy-to-use. It weighs only 0.97 lb and its dimensions are 11.3” x 3.9” x 2.5”, and it has a 2-mode switch – forward and reverse, on the handle for easy control. Handle fits nicely in hand and at the end of the handle there is also carrying strap through that you can put around your hand, so you don’t have to worry about dropping the shredder.
This is completely portable shredder; you can even charge it with your computer and shred documents directly over a trash bin at the same time. But keep in mind that this is a light use shredder, it is slow and it can easily overheat so make small cool down breaks while using it. And when you don’t need it you can easily store it anywhere since it won’t take a lot of space thanks to its size.
Portable Paper Shredder With A Waste Bin
Portable Mini Hand Shredder For A6 Paper Documents
This is the last one on our list of portable paper shredders. This one also doesn’t require electricity to work since is completely manual. This small plastic shredder is great for personal use if you have a few documents to destroy from time to time, or even for quilling.
It can shred one piece of A4 paper folded in half lengthwise since the width of the input slot is only 12.3 cm. The paper strips are 3mm wide and provide with a good level of security. The dimensions of this shredder are 5.9” x 3.1” x 5.3” and it’s composed of two parts, shredding unit with a plastic handle which is on top of the waste-basket.
Operating this portable shredder is really simple. You insert the paper in the slot and then manually turn the handle to rotate the blades. Thins strips fall into waste-basket which makes this model a great desktop shredder, and since it’s small it won’t take a lot of space on your desk. It’s lightweight so you can easily carry it anywhere you want and it’s ready to use all the time since it doesn’t need batteries.
This shredder will cut any paper documents, like old receipts, junk mail, post cards or paper for quilling, up to 2 layers of thickness, and you will have to remove staples and paper clips since they can damage the blades. It’s made from light plastic and can be damaged easily. This shredder is also not suitable for expired credit cards or any thicker material. Waste-basket is easily removed from the shredding unit, making the emptying and cleaning effortless.
Conclusion: The Handiest Of The Handy Paper Shredders
The title of the handiest portable document shredder on this list goes to the MUJI Handy Shredder, for its small dimensions, cheap price, and no need for batteries. It is all you can ask from a low end portable shredder for infrequent shredding. For more small low end low workload paper shredders check out my article on the best 5 compact paper shredders or best 5 desktop paper shredders. If you are interested in the ultra small paper shredders you will like my best 5 mini & small paper shredder machines. Check out my best paper shredders in general list.