Sometimes the price for paper is so high that recycling is actually cost effective adn that is, at that time, the best use for all paper they will take. Mostly it costs far more to move the paper to a recycling plant than the paper is worth and at that time it is better used in the garden. It just depends.

This is how I look at paper for compost

1. brown paper. That could be thin cardboard brown paper bags and sometimes there are even brown napkins. I see those as being the best and the first option in using if in need of "browns" because the chance that they have been bleached or chemicaly altered are slim.

2. gray paper. That to me is things like newspapers and paper towels. If you use newspaper it's best to use the ones that have soy base or water based ink. They may use something a little different in singapore but you want something that has a natural base ink if possible. And the paper towels are usually fine becaue they have a cotten in them which is good. But don't throw in paper towels if you used them with cleaners.

3. White paper. A number of people use this. I will only use it if I'm in great need of browns. This consists of your typical junk mail. Make sure there is no plastic in it and that includes the window in the envelope and shread it. The reason I don't like to use it is because the paper has typically been bleached and who knows what else and the ink is hard to tell what that's made from. I typically recycle this instead of using it in compost.

I never thought of a phone book though. That's a lot of work to get one of those compost ready so I would just recycle it. And to me they smell funny so I don't know what they have on them but it could be chemicals.

I compost the paper that my recycle won't pick up.

We have recycling programs for newspaper and telephone books, so I send them on their way.

(Though I have composted telephone books, without shredding them, just as an experiment to see how long it would take for the whole books to break down.)

The paper that primarily goes into my compost pile, is shredded junk mail, paper plates, paper towels, kleenex... stuff that I need to get rid of that is not accepted by recycle.

It is 40 miles to the recycling center for us so an 80 mile roundtrip makes recycling cost prohibitive. So all paper/cardboard goes into the compost piles. I've never been hung up on the color, ink, or bleach issues since they are such infintesimal amounts of the total compost I produce. If you are then recycle it.

But if I did have access to a RC center I think I make my choices based on

(1) how much work it would take to get it compost ready. eg: phone books and big boxes would go to the center, newspapers (unless I had a huge pile of say the NY times), junk mail, etc. into the compost as they are easy to tear up. And

(2) how much I needed for the compost. If all I had was a small garden and 1 compost pile the rest would go to the center but if I had an an acre of gardens and several compost piles then I'd keep it all except the big stuff.

Either way, you are recycling. ;)

Dave

My grandmother would always tell us kids never to put any glossy advertising mail in the compost bin. Other than that, since the ink used is environmentally friendly, one could use any or all of a newspaper, the advertising pages if they are not glossy, or any cardboard (although that takes longer to compost). It's usually better to shred or tear up the newspaper in strips so that it will compost better.
Personnally in my garden I have routinely dug in strips of newspaper every fall when I would turn the garden soil. I found that this would attract the worms. I also dug in strips of paper around roses and found that the roses did better. I'm not quite sure why but I can guess for two reasons: it attracts the worms so you get worm composted soil ( worm castings) and also the paper helps retain moisture during the dry summer days.
To come back to your answer, any and all paper as long as it is not glossy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Super Organic Gardening Tips

The reason glossy paper is glossy is because it has a clay coating the is pressed and ironed. Nothing harmful is added to that paper unless small amounts of latex (adhesive to hold the clay on the paper) is considered harmful. Some of the inks still used on glossy paper may be enough of a reason to not use that type of paper, but simply because paper is glossy is not a good reason.

OK, thanks all. I guess I was focusing more on rapid decomp and ready availability of carbon. I put in some shredded junk mail (credit card offers), and they're hanging around for what feels like forever. Of course, since they're bleached white, maybe I just see them better. :)