Newspaper in the Compost?

[Gardener]

I have never heard anything about this, but I was wondering if newspapers, or any papers in that matter, would be dangerous for your compost. The reason I ask this is because of the ink on papers. Is there anyway that this ink can be hazardous for our environment or vegetables grown in the garden?

 

[zigs]

Hi Gardener,

Can't believe this thread has had 107 hits on it overnight and no replies

The Centre for Alternative Technology did a study on composting kitchen waste with layers of crumpled cardboard to increase the carbon ratio in the heap. Suprisingly, they found no trace of contamination from the printing inks in the final compost.

 

[maddie]

I always start my composting bin with newspapers soaked in yogurt. I let them dry for a few days place them at the bottom and then add my kitchen wastes to the earthenware in which I compost.
As zigs says studies show that the ink does not have harmful chemicals.
Many people grow spinach, wheat grass, mushrooms etc., on newspaper beds.

 

[Gardener]

Hi Gardener,

Can't believe this thread has had 107 hits on it overnight and no replies

The Centre for Alternative Technology did a study on composting kitchen waste with layers of crumpled cardboard to increase the carbon ratio in the heap. Suprisingly, they found no trace of contamination from the printing inks in the final compost.

Wow, that's actually a bit surprising that they found no trace of contamination whatsoever!

I always start my composting bin with newspapers soaked in yogurt. I let them dry for a few days place them at the bottom and then add my kitchen wastes to the earthenware in which I compost.
As zigs says studies show that the ink does not have harmful chemicals.
Many people grow spinach, wheat grass, mushrooms etc., on newspaper beds.

That's interesting to know. I guess I might just start adding newspaper and cardboard into my compost as well. Thanks for the info guys!

 

[zigs]

Wow, that's actually a bit surprising that they found no trace of contamination whatsoever!

Not got a link to the article as I read it in a magazine, it did say that they found it worked better with the lid off the bin, so it got rained on.

 

[Babble64]

This is second hand info but my sister researched composting and said someone out there does what they call "lasagna" composting...which is layer the kitchen wastes with newspaper. I've use newspaper in my compost and it seems to be fine. I also put the cardboard containers from some fruits in there, torn up. I started this, admittedly, because one of my local stores has them labelled "100% compostable".

 

[zigs]

I'd be hesitant to put the newspapers in layers themselves, i'd crumple them, but I agree with the layering of the different materials.

Kitchen waste on its own is high in Nitrogen and the heap gets too wet & can't rot properly.

 

[ChanellG]

I never use newspapers or anything with printed inks, but I do use plain brown paper, plain white paper towels, and empty tp polls. It's not so much that I have anything against newspaper, I've actually thought of laying it down as a mulch of sorts. I'm just trying to go as organic as possible and I plan to use my compost on food plants.

 

[zigs]

We used to get Fish and Chips wrapped in old newspaper till health & safety stopped it.

Now some Chip Shops have new paper, printed up to look like newspaper