cardboard and newspaper-safe to compost?
rpondpa
17 years ago
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donn_
17 years agoDemeter
17 years agoRelated Discussions
Cardboard safe in the vegetable garden?
Comments (22)http://www.adhesivesmag.com/articles/84472-packaging-enduser-starch-and-dextrin-based-adhesives This is a basic primer on packaging glues. Various further additives could include anti-fungals or some forms of viscosity and curing modifying compounds. A large draw for cardboard is the low cost and ease of use in the manufacturing adhesives, which means the more complicated and therefore more expensive the formula, the fewer uses a glue has in reference to finances. Without an msds for your specific product in your hands, it's hard to say for sure, however my non-chemical/medical doctorate holding guess would be fairly benign....See MoreTrying a Lasagna Bed: Cardboard vs Newspaper?
Comments (13)Sorry, enoughcliches, didn't notice the tropical on your header. Note to self: Pay attention:~) How quickly they will be "broken down", digested, depends on how healthy your soil is, the moisture level, and what the soil bacteria have to mulch on. How long the paper lasts can be a indication of how active a Soil Food Web you have, how healthy your soil is, and how moist that paper is because that also determines what the soil bacteria can do with that high Carbon material. Probably true, however, lets assume all bacteria are probably equal in this area of this garden. In my experience 10 layers of paper last longer than one thickness of cardboard placed in the same area of the same garden. Cardboard is much faster to lay out (except for removing the tape and staples). Laying, overlapping, opening newspapers is tedious and they may blow if you don't wet them as you go. There really isn't a lot of pro or con to talk about....See MoreColored newspaper and cardboard
Comments (7)g'day, most current info' that i have seen or read is that modern colours are all naturally derive from vegetable colouring to mineral, modern printing ahs come a long way the only printing in doubt would be from some overseas countries. i use whatever paper/cardboard we have colour or not, i believe the quantity of ink is insignificant agaisnt the volume of paper involved, as one chemist pointed out to me he said "that the weigh of even a full page of colour would be no more than 2% the total weight of paper and ink combined" anyhow when i ahd a worm farm the worms seemed to preffer the coloured stuff to the other. i would suggest use whatever you have. len Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page...See MoreCan the ink on cardboard food containers be assumed safe now?
Comments (5)I know most magazines and some newspaper advertizing inserts are slick. I think a thin coating of clay is part of it. But is lets say a typical cereal box slick? Or a 6 pack beer tray? They look half slick to me. I tried an organic herbal tea box and the slicker label part of the cardboard seemed more resistant to decomposition. Even the white part of a square to go pizza box seemed to flake rather than decompose. Because we have massive recycling of everything under the sun in my town, I pull out only the luckiest bits of corrigated cardboard for my tiny herd. But I dream of the day they will be able to handle all the best bits of corrigated cardboard. It is ok with me if cereal boxes get recycled....See Morebrdldystlu
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