Personally speaking, I would shred it and use it. I compost almost all my junk mail, even heavily colored stuff. But that's just me.

Val

PS - When you want quick answers you might not get the most experienced people. As I don't have a life right now....you got me :-)

Also compost most sheet paper - black inks are good carbon source too (jet or laser) - just drop mine in the hammermill shredder with 1" holes - except newspaper, which is rolled up and masking taped, then put in the chipper where the Used to take boxes of 'excelsior' home from the office before retiring - burned out more than a couple of their shredding machines...Maybe that's why they suggested I retire early...?

Don't use the thicker, slick colored stuff though - but maybe that's OK too? The inks were thought to be bad for microbes, but haven't checked on that in many years...

Robert

Same here - all paper products get composted.

Dave

Office paper is best recycled as a "higher and better use", but if you don't have a source of browns, I can't fault you for using it. Having said that, if the ink is black it's basically all activated carbon which is harmless, plus some binders and stuff that will generally break down (IMHO). It's a very small quantity compared to the paper anyway.

Our paper at work is printed single side and can't be re-used "in office" for the most part so I bundle it back into the original boxes and take it to either a day care for the kids to color on, or an elementary school where they re-use it.

I don't use much, if any office paper, in composting. Almost nil nutrients, I have other browns and there is a paper recycling company on the way to work.

Lloyd

Thanks, everyone. So, we have a 3:2 majority for composting it, with Lloyd arguing the stuff's of limited value in the pile and toxcrusadr advising on recycling but OK to use.

Anyone else want to chime in?

Well, I used a bunch of office paper, printed back to back by laser printer, as part of my wed barrier for my veggie bed. So I HOPE it isn't toxic! :)
Per google, it just has carbon and traces of paraffin and some other waxes.
I'm more concerned about colored inks on mail & boxes, which some books say might have heavy metals. I've been ripping the shiny colored fronts off boxes and using the cardboard backing. It's a pain.I'm also using phonebook White pages but not the yellow or blue pages.

We live way out in the 'boonies' - no trash pickup - recycle for paper is 35 miles away - so for us, with gas prices nowadays, it's either burn barrel or compost.
We do haul cans/glass to the (15 miles distant) transfer station monthly, but they just put paper in the landfill too - so not a matter of needing 'browns'. Country life.

It took you 31 minutes to get a response. Is that really faster than typing two or three words in a search engine? Not that I care, I'm just saying. :?

I use mine at the bottom of my bins and at the bottom of lasagna beds, btw.

greenwood, thanks so much for your second post. Your first was completely pointless.

Just so you know, I was interested in hearing from people here on this forum, a few of whom appear to be relatively new posters (as I am). But OTOH, I don't want to irk you again so why don't I check with you first before I post anything else, OK? You can say yea or nay, edit, revise, rewrite.... That way I'll know any future comments and questions will have passed muster.

I don't use laser printed paper in my compost or garden. We have done experiments where we soak the printed paper in water for a few days. The letters don't dissolve or change in any way, so they seemed plastic-y to us or somehow melted onto the paper. Not like newsprint which basically rubs or melts off. So whatever is in the ink seems creepy and not what I want in my garden. Plus paper is actually something that is easy to recycle where I live, I just drive it down the street about a mile. So although I have massive lasagna beds and many compost bins, I recycle my paper. I have plenty of leaves, wood chips, etc. to use as browns.

Marcia

-off topic-

I don't want to irk you again so why don't I check with you first before I post anything else, OK?

Hysterical!

-on topic-

There is always going to be differences of opinion on what kind of paper is okay to compost. I think it's all just what you're comfortable with. Personally, I don't think there's enough bad stuff in most of it to worry about, but that's just me.

Val

Gosh, is it the holiday season bringing out the snarkiness in people?

Anyway, I agree with most everyone here that it's fine to compost this paper. I do it mainly as a way of recycling this material, not that I think it adds nutritional value to the finished product. Our local recycling project won't take things like this, and I can't see sending it to the landfill. I also shred up junk mail and the like and tht goes into the compost too.

Thanks for asking. While Google is wonderful, sometimes it's nice to have interaction and get opinions from people on a forum that was intended for this purpose.

Greenword next time try being a little more tactful.