|
| I plan on composting all the gift boxes, but can you compost wrapping paper? |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| I worked in a paper mill. I wouldn't use it in my food garden. You can't imagine all the crap (chemicals) that go into paper. Then in the case of the wrapping paper, there is the ink too... |
|
- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Mon, Nov 21, 11 at 17:40
| Why not recycle the boxes into cardboard (unless you don't have a recycling outlet), or even better, give them away to let someone else reuse them? We flatten our boxes, stack in a paper sack, and stash in the attic for next yer. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Jon: I am *very* interested in what goes into paper! Can you elaborate or post some links? |
|
| I thought this was going to be about stalking all my goyim neighbors for their wreaths and used Christmas trees. |
|
| Jon: I am *very* interested in what goes into paper! Can you elaborate or post some links? I should clarify, I worked in the tissue mill part. so I'm not real familiar with the paper mill additive nor the pulp mill side of things though I know some. Look up black green and white liquor. also optical brighteners. I know we used LOTS of dyes in the colored tissue. glues too. not sure of any of their chemical makeup anymore. and I'm sure that other mills use different things too. we were elemental chlorine free. most mill are not. oh caustic and acids too. they always told us and I quote..." there isn't any thing here that would hurt you" end quote. all I can say about that is BS! I don't know about you but if a drip of "something" drips on me that I can't identify i would wipe or rinse it off. From my perspective, none of that belongs in my organic food system... |
|
| I'm relieved. I thought someone was going to gross us all out by talking about fruitcake. |
|
| Agree wholeheartedly. Many colored inks have additives that should make you think twice about introducing them to soil for produce, including heavy metals. The same is true for glossy papers. There is also significant reason for not purchasing these types of paper, because the waste chemicals, that are used in their production will end up somewhere, even if it isn't in your own garden. Caveat emptor. |
|
| No problem Ann....the fruitcake goes in the bokashi bin. |
|
| Over here, inks are soy-based and biodegradeable. Probab;y GM soy and extremely industrial though! While it's less bad environmentally, the big push was economic: it's a lot cheaper to clean water-based ink off machinery. The gloss on glossy paper is kaolin (clay). Worms LOVE shiny paper. BUT flouros and metallics are often still created with nasty toxins and a lot of stuff comes from Asia, where the laws may be different... |
|
- Posted by berryman135678 (My Page) on Thu, Dec 15, 11 at 14:49
| Fruit cake cannot and should not be composted....it must be eaten. What a waste (no pun intended)...what is it with folks that just love to compost beer, wine and fruitcake??? |
|
- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Thu, Dec 15, 11 at 17:41
| Depends on the fruitcake. I've had good fruitcake and bad fruitcake. Sorry friends, but "Many inks have additives" and "Not sure of their chemical makeup anymore" does not really help in the quest to determine what is actually in paper that may be harmful. Until I see some facts, I am still skeptical that black and white newsprint is actually harmful to the compost, garden or vegetable eaters. |
|
| That's the kind of thinking that brought us the hidden wonders of DDT, Thalidomide, lead paint, and PCBs. The question is regarding holiday wrapping paper - not newsprint. There are plenty of resources that enumerate the hazards of introducing colored and glossy paper to the garden environment. The reason newsprint is now produced with soy-based ink is in part a response to those exact concerns. Further, the production of those products is also well-known to be deleterious to the environment, particularly air and water quality. That's a significant reason why the EPA was formed in the 70's, to try to rectify some of the damage caused by the paper-making industry, among others. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Ink chemistry
|
| "Sorry friends, but "Many inks have additives" and "Not sure of their chemical makeup anymore" does not really help in the quest to determine what is actually in paper that may be harmful. Until I see some facts, I am still skeptical that black and white newsprint is actually harmful to the compost, garden or vegetable eaters." If you are really interested google it... 10 minutes on wikipedia is enough to form your own opinion. As I said, I'm not going to put these items of questionable substance into MY compost because it goes into MY food system. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Soil Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.