A lot of advertising printing is still fairly toxic. It is the actual chemical that IS the color that is the bad stuff.

Advertising coloring is not the same as the soy-based inks of newspaper.

I wouldn't use it, composted OR burnt, but if you really want to do it, you might want to contact Coke or Pepsi, and see if they know.

Sue

FYI that is called "wet strength cardboard" in the recycling industry, although that refers to whatever is making it hold together and not the printing. It usually can go in with mixed paper if recycling it.

Marcia

The printing on any material that is used to transport food products, makes no difference if those products have no food value, must be non toxic. Therefore, those cases could be composted with no concern.

If that were always true, baby bottles wouldn't be being thrown away right now by concerned parents.

I would try to contact Coke. Actually, I wouldn't use it, but if I wanted to, I'd contact Coke.

I do compost the cardboard from pop and beer cartons.

But I can't confirm whether its "safe"... but I don't lay awake at night worrying about it either.

I compost them too. It doesn't worry me in the slightest. If it worries you, then just don't compost them. It's your choice.

Dave

Well, I did contact the Coca Cola Company, and here is their response:

Thank you for contacting The Coca-Cola Company. We appreciate the opportunity to respond.

The inks on our cartons are water-based and are 50% water. Additionally, they are soluble. Due to this fact, we see no reason why you could not compost the carton in a garden.

If you have any additional comments, please feel free to contact us again.

Lesley
Industry and Consumer Affairs
The Coca-Cola Company

My personal decision is to compost them. I am in love with the idea of putting them to use at my own house. Like I said, I have a lot of these cartons. My husband "drinks" Coca Cola all of the time. ("Drinks" means that he pops open the can, forgets where he leaves it, pops open another can, etc, etc., then I pour the rest in the drain, and recycle the can.)

The carton itself says that is it recyclable, which I do all the time the conventional way. The other factor in my decision is the fact that I have been exposed to pesticides all of my life, more than I like to think about. A little water-based soluble ink in my compost is fine with me.

My way of life is gearing more and more toward Simple Organic Living (http://www.voiceyourself.com). For right now I am happy with that.

Thank you for all of your responses.
Cathy D.

"then I pour the rest in the drain, and recycle the can"

Why not pour the rest on the compost? It's mostly water, but also has some sugar (a brown). It's pretty empty in terms of real nutrients, but I think it's better to add it to the compost than to add it to the sewage system.

annpat, the problem with the plastic baby bottles is not the ink used to label those bottles but a stabilizer in the plastic which is also in the bottled water bottles many people buy. Of course the manufacturers are saying there is no problem with that stabilizer leaching into the liquid you drink even though there is some research, flawed according to the industry, that does show a problem. Those of us around in the 1960's remember the chemical indistry telling is that lots of the stuff they were dumping into our drinking water was not harmful, so always be skeptical of anything an industry source tells you.

bpgreen,

I will definately pour the leftover coke in the compost from now on. Up until now, I didn't know that was one of the things I could add. I am learning a lot here!

Cathy