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Compost bins

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I started to put all the junk mail and old newspapers through the ‘shredder’ and mix it in with the garden rubbish and lawn cuttings. It seems to be rotting down OK and hopefully will not harm anything. Can the chemical inks be a problem ?

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Hi Jstvera,

I believe that the ink on newspapers nowadays is not "chemical"
but something else (I can't remember what exactly) So they are safe to compost. I do compost newspapers with no problems. What I do not compost is glossy magazines/leaflets.

5 Oct, 2007

 

Thankyou walrus for your comment

5 Oct, 2007

 

FYI - Glossy magazines and boxes should also be okay. I believe the gloss is china clay, so harmless for composting. Unfortunately the way the clay is obtained is not necessarily harmless to the environment!

5 Oct, 2007

 

Thanks darkmuse. Must do further research.

5 Oct, 2007

 

Hello again Justvera and darkmust.
Just googled about composting newspapers and gloss mags.
The ink on newspapers nowadays is vegetable based so is definitely ok to compost.

darkmuse.

All the "hits" say it's a no-no to compost glossy mags. They don't mention what types of ink is used. So I think I will play safe and recycle instead of composting such material.

5 Oct, 2007

 

Had to give up shredding and composting the newspapers. I have four large compost bins but the lawn cuttings and other garden scrap just keep them filled up ! It seems to settle down a bit more every day but a few hours working & they are all full again !

18 Aug, 2008

 

hi there, i stopped shredding a while now,i got a small steel beer barrel ,which i sit on a couple of house bricks and i burn all my mail that i dont want ayone to see,it works perfect ,and i put the ash back into the gardennot a bad idea,good tip ,glad to help ,anyone else with anything good send it this way cheers for now gingernut

22 Aug, 2008

 

Interesting thread here...
useful comments. :o)

9 Apr, 2009

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