This intriguing concept gives a whole new spin to the old admonition: You made your bed — Now, you have to lie in it!

In this case, London (UK)-based industrtial designer Tom Ballhatchet has literally made that possible — for his hamster. Ballhatchet’s prototype hamster-powered paper shreadder mounts a shreading mill on top of a more or less standard hamster cage. The hamster runs enthusiastically on her exercise wheel — as hamsters usually do — which turns the shreading engine, producing fresh bedding that drops right onto the floor of the hamster cage!

When the floor gets … dirty … just remove the soiled bedding and dig it into your back garden for compost.

There are some challenges to commercializing the concept, however. The prototype shown above will only shread one piece of paper at a time and Ballhatchet admits it takes his hamster 45 minutes of wheel-time to shread one standard piece of office paper.

Nevertheless, the intrepid inventor says he’s has expressions of interest from several commercial concerns to turn the idea into a mass-market product.