Can You Compost Paper?

I've received a number of emails about this recently, and you'll be happy to learn that you can definitely compost paper.  Paper's quite high in carbon (burns easily, doesn't it?), which is good when you have what seems like endless amounts of food scraps and not enough browns in your pile to balance it out. I recommend recycling paper as a first choice, but if it's a document that has my name or other sensitive information on it, I'll give it to my worms to lay around in and munch on. A few quick tips: -Stick to using white paper and newsprint.  Colored and glossy paper run a risk of containing toxic heavy metals. -Shred the paper and distribute it throughout your pile.  Shredding is necessary, as paper gets clumpy…

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How to Use Recycled Paper in Compost (video)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhOza0-hFyM This is a cute video that talks about winter composting as well as putting paper in your compost. Composting paper may have been a concern back in the day when metallic inks were common, but these days soy ink is used for essentially everything...it's cheaper. Shredding paper makes a pretty big difference in how fast it breaks down, but that's the case with anything you're trying to compost.  I like to shred all my "confidential" stuff and compost it instead of putting it out at the curbside.  My secrets are safe with the worms.

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