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Comment by d33lio | Hacker News Reader

1) Turkish Kebab / street food like I could find in Melbourne OZ

2) "chips" or "wedges" like I could find in Melbourne OZ

3) Effective (real) chipper-shredders for lawn care. The number of times I've tried to rent one and had to hire someone for $200-300 to turn trees on my property into mulch is beyond frustrating. Heck, even if I needed to get training and take a test for a license I would do it. I think the US took a bit of a harsh stance on these devices for common consumers after it was widely publicized that Saddam Hussein used these devices to turn his political dissidents into "fodder".

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I'll second you on 3. I've been trying to find ways to turn Amazon boxes into either something more compostable or something that consumes less space in my recycling bin.

I ended up with a paper shredder that will shred cardboard, but it's still a pain in the ass to tear up the boxes. I would kill for something like a mulcher than I can just chuck whole boxes into and let it deal with.

I should probably order less stuff online, I know, but the recycling around here sucks. They only pick up recycling every 2 weeks, and the bin is smaller than my trash bin. Despite the fact that I generate a lot more recycleables than I do genuine trash.

I've also been looking for a decent cardboard shredder that does not require tearing the boxes into smaller pieces and sells for a reasonable price. The only thing I've found is industrial shredders which start at $1500 and go up fast from there.

https://www.amazon.com/HSM-Profipack-Single-Layer-Converter/...

They can't be much more than a motor and some heavy duty shearing cutting disks, but they are really expensive! There seems to be nothing in the price range between office paper shredders (which require tearing cardboard into small pieces) and industrial shredders (which are designed for extensive heavy duty use, much more than a home owner would need.)

Most places allow you to break the boxes down and put them out in 2'x3' stacks tied with twine.

"I think the US took a bit of a harsh stance on these devices for common consumers"

What makes you say that? I don't see any laws about owning these. The good ones are just really expensive. Renting one would probably run you about the price that you mentioned ($200-300).

I've been looking at used ones on craigslist, but haven't found the right one yet.

I was talking to a guy I rented one from and he pretty much said "yeah, you used to be able to buy these at sears pretty much up until the year 2000". He mentioned that in order to rent them in the state of Texas you actually need a heavy machinery license (the same necessary for excavators, bobcats and bulldozers).

This guy was great though, he also helped out with my 30th birthday where my friends and I went out to a friend's ranch and just "played" with heavy machinery for a weekend.

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