paper bales 38 from a remote location and delivers them to the loading platform 21 of the rebaler 11 the loading platform 21 and the feed port 18 in the illustrated embodiment fig1 are sized to accept two low density bales side by side the operator may place a bale on the loading platform and then back up and push the bale into the breach 20 of the housing with the forks of the fork lift truck in fig2 one low density bale 38 is shown positioned in the breach 20 while the operator is pushing the second low density bale 38 into the breach with the fork lift truck as indicated by arrows 41 it will be clear from these figures that the side loading feature of the rebaler represents a significant enhancement over traditional top loading balers once moved into the breach the low density bales 38 are positioned in side by side relationship with respect to each other of course the bales may be loaded into the breach by other methods such as for instance with a conveyor a hand truck an overhead crane with pneumatic doors that close behind the bales and push them into the breach or with any other technique designed to move the bales into the breach in a side by side relationship all and any such techniques should be considered to be within the scope of the invention with the two low density bales 38 positioned in the breach intact and if desired with their bindings still in place the hydraulic cylinder 27 is activated this drives the compression ram 26 in direction 28 through the breach and toward the compression chamber 15 at the downstream end of the housing 12.