Shredded paper?

[Ruderunner]

Ive seen a few threads that mention torn up cardboard as a filler for compost and got to wondering if shredded paper can be used as well?

The company I work for shreds lots of documents, and then tosses it into the compactor. I realize that paper is bleached vs cardboard but I don't know if that really matters.

This is something id till in in spring or use as mulch throughout the summer.

Thoughts?

 

[Chuck]

Ive seen a few threads that mention torn up cardboard as a filler for compost and got to wondering if shredded paper can be used as well?

The company I work for shreds lots of documents, and then tosses it into the compactor. I realize that paper is bleached vs cardboard but I don't know if that really matters.

This is something id till in in spring or use as mulch throughout the summer.

Thoughts?

Nothing wrong with it. The only paper that you shouldn't use is that glossy paper like magazines have. Printer ink these days is made from oil distilates with a base of soybean oil. Newspaper ink is soybean oil. There isn't enough oil in ink to hardly even measure. I don't know about using it as mulch. Wouldn't a stiff breeze blow it all over the place?

 

[DirtMechanic]

I think this question is along the lines leading to the lasagna method of composting?

 

[Ruderunner]

Lasagna method?

 

[DirtMechanic]

Lasagna method?

Like lasagna, layers of carbon (cardboard or paper, browns) and nitrogen bearing materials (greens) alternately stacked in similar mass layers each wetted with water. It smothers weeds as well. Like all composting, it works best for some people because they have those materials handy. This idea of using what one has on hand is commonly the defining factor of the preferred method for a person to consider using in compost, though some purchase materials. Ultimately all the methods are a process of digestion and oxidation resulting in black gold. Since some printed materials are man made with an unknown history and source, folks will also separate those materials into unique piles and use them on ornamentals and lawn grasses rather than consumable plantings. Since my property produces leaves, clippings and ramial wood in the form of twigs, my needs are met and I have not pursued the use of cardboards and papers in composting further, especially in the area of man made materials being taken into the tissue of vegatables. I read a lot, and do not come across it out there in netland as being a known problem.

 

[Meadowlark]

I've always wondered about the various glues used in cardboards....but then that's also why I choose not to use sheetrock for a soil/pond additive. You just don't know what may be in the ingredients....and a natural solution is so easy and readily available.

 

[karstopography]

I’ve tossed in a torn up corrugated cardboard box or two and tossed it into my compost bins. I don’t do it often, I’ve got enough browns already with the leaves in there. The box scraps eventually disappear so they will compost, but with acres of leaves and yard debris most of the boxes I get don’t get put into my two compost bins. I’ve also tossed in a few brown paper sacks and the little cardboard trays set plants might come in. It all gets processed by the fauna and fungi. Paper might be just a tiny percentage of the overall mix, well behind yard debris, vegetable scraps, waste garden plants and other plant trimmings.