What Do Composting and Identity Theft Have in Common?

Hey Mr. Green,

We shred a lot of typical white paper at work because of confidentiality concerns. Is this paper safe to use in garden compost? I'd love to be able to use it but don't know about the chemicals in the paper or the printer ink.

--Katy in La Canada Flintridge, California

As any inmate of a cubicle can tell you, the paperless office has not arrived: we're using 4 million tons of copy paper a year.  The good news is that only a third of the material to make paper comes directly from trees. A third of it is from recycling and another third from sawmill waste, according to the EPA. 

It is indeed safe use this office paper in compost, according to the U.S. Composting Council and other sources. I have even come across studies that show that paper actually has lower levels of contaminants than typical yard waste—not that your typical yard waste is unsafe.  Paper helps absorb water, which can help prevent your compost from stalling into the saturated, odorous gunk that tends to trouble the fastidious composter. It also provides carbon, an essential ingredient in compost,  since a 30-to-1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen is ideal for happy production.

If mulching works in your garden (i.e., doesn't shelter slugs and snails), you could also use the frizzy paper for this purpose.

In general, however, the soundest use of this paper is simply to recycle it to make more paper. After all, paper can be recycled five to seven times before the fibers become too short to be resurrected into new paper.

Comments

[obkno]

The best part about this post is to recycle , people to recycle is the most important step to a cleaner world.

[Nova @ Organic Home Garden]

paper is safe. but i'm not too sure about the organic content that it can add to the compost. i sometimes use newspaper for mulching and as a crop cover.

[dental health services]

this part of the blog "It is indeed safe use this office paper in compost, according to the U.S. Composting Council and other sources. I have even come across studies that show that paper actually has lower levels of contaminants than typical yard waste—not that your typical yard waste is unsafe" was very interesting, thanks!

[Build A Compost]

Paper is safe to compost, just black and white print only no colors, to many chemicals.

[Vanda Azevedo]

Great post! Every week, I buy lots of organic fruits and vegetables, wash them carefully and then I prepare them for cooking. I pull off the ugly leaves, I remove the flesh from the rind, I cut off the ends, I remove the outer layers, etc. I use only the most tender and tastiest parts of the vegetables for my clients. This leaves a large pile of organic kitchen scraps that is perfect for composting, I’ve been saying I need to compost, for a long time. This year, I’ve joined a CSA with Sang Lee Farms and I expect to get large quantities of fruits and vegetables that will create piles of kitchen scraps for composting. Well this year, I’ve taken another step to be greener by purchasing a composter and setting it up behind my shed. Thanks for the info about office paper. Keep it up! Namaste, Chef Vanda The Organic Personal Chef

[OSH NZ]

The most important part of the process is to Reduce and re-use!

no need to recycle if these are adhered to!!

[mobile shredding services]

Just make sure you destroy any documents that might have personal information on them before you put them in the heap!

[early childhood education]

Whoa..I did not know that one can only recycle paper 5-7 times because the fibers wear out!

Nice post.

[Jessica McCarty]

Thanks for sharing! Very interesting post! I wonder how many people think about these things.

[Dennis]

Great site.. my wife is a CMA and has been considering becoming a phlebotomist, the pay I believe is better and the work is less stressful from what I have discovered over the last couple of months. The training is only a year so I was even considering it myself. I created a site all about it for those intereted in learning more.. Any information at all will be appreciated.. regards, Dennis

[Deborah King]

That is a great idea, to compost and reuse the shredded papers with personal data on them. No identity thief is going to go through your mulch! Keep your personal info safe.