i compost mine as well as use them for mulch in my beds.

Sometimes the market for recycled paper is already glutted and our community can't sell the paper they've collected. They dispose of it at our regional trash-to-energy plant, when that happens. Just because you put your newspapers in a recycle bin doesn't mean you are helping to save a tree. I use my newspapers whole to start new beds or shredded in the compost heap. I put the glossy paper catalogs in the recycle bin.

I usually recycle the glossy stuff unless I'm short of paper at the moment.
Remember the triangle, "reduce, reuse, recycle". Composting is "reuse".

This is a choice between two good things. Don't worry about it either way.
BTW, I use a thin layer of newspaper as a poor man's weed blocking fabric/mulch.

How do you shred newspapers, by hand?

In composting them, do you end up with clumps of wet paper, kind of like a big spit wad?

Some composters presoak in a container with water or urine/water mix for a few days before placing in the compost pile.

I use shredded leaves as my primary brown, with shredded paper as a very distant second place. Paper does not seem as rich as leaves, and seems to clump up in the pile.

I am using the term 'paper' loosely; thicker paper seems better than the flimsey newsprint. Just a personal preference.

Hi green jen,

I think you can guess what my opinion is ;) so I figured I would give you something else to help you come to a conclusion.

This is a criticism of recycling newspaper, but it gives both sides so I thought it would be best:

Here is a link that might be useful: Recycling criticism

Since all the paper manufacturers today have "tree farms" from which they get the wood they turn into paper, and since it costs almost as much to recycle paper to make more paper the market for scrap paper is not too hot. Paper manufacturers mostly only use 10 percent recycled pulp when making paper, although there are some places, not many, that manufacture paper that is all recycled fiber. Until congress gets its act together and changes the rules so the cost of shipping used material for recycling is much less expensive (transportation costs are the major obstruction to recycling) composting paper is a better end use of this scrap.

There is also the question of overall quantity. I get a daily, full-length, multi-sectional newspaper as well as all the usual junk mail and normal paper scrap, and accumulate well over two cubic yards of newsprint in a year. I also have to do a 15 mile round trip to get to the recycle place. I produce a huge amount of grass clippings every year, and that can seriously reek for days in the compost.

I live in a very dry climate, and keeping compost moist is a challenge. I've tried tossing the newspaper sections in whole, they come out a year later in much the same condition. I've tried soaking the sections first and then tossing them in, they still come out whole a year later, just harder to pull the pages apart. Then I tried to soak them overnight, then tear them into strips, and then mix that in with the grass clippings. A year later, I had strips of newspaper blowing all over the place.

I can make a newspaper slurry, like one would do for paper maché, using an electric drill, a 5 gal bucket, and a bulb auger. That works very well. It is also somewhat of a mess since there are flying bits of newspaper slurry going every which way.

Yesterday, I found out in the border a newspaper from June 12, 2003 that I'd put down for mulch and covered with grass clippings. I could still read the date, and open the pages. Things are pretty dry around here.

It doesn't have to be an "either/or" decision. Just do both - 1/2 to the recycle if it makes you feel better and 1/2 to the compost. That way all the bases are covered. ;)

david52 WOW. I run my paper through my crosscut shredder and within a couple weeks in the pile its GONE. I can still find whole leaves but no paper at all.
Of course its MUCH wetter here, somewhat like living in the rainforest right now. ;)

I hand shredded paper at first but my Fellowes 7 sheet crosscut shredder is terrific. Not to expensive, plenty powerfull.

I recycle my paper as a steady source of browns for composting. Office paper & non-glossy junk mail go through the cross-cut 6 sheet paper shredder first. Newspaper gets shredded easily into bits with the Flowtron Leaf Eater, just toss a section in at a time.