Glossy Paper Toxic?

[dogginfox]

I have a large stack of old magazines and catalogs that I am shredding up and using as a substrate in one of my chick brooders. I have been adding the spent substrate to my compost and now I have read that it could be toxic??

What is toxic about it and will it affect me when I use this compost in my garden next few years?

 

[Reinbeau]

Newer inks are soy based and non-toxic. I don't know what was in the older inks, but I've heard that ink on glossy paper is the toxic kind. Sorry.....

 

[Rosalind]

I thought it was the coating that made the paper glossy was bad, also that it just will not break down the way non-coated paper does.

 

[KeyLimePie]

I'd like to know more about the benefits/hazards of composting different sorts of paper.

A recent article in our newspaper described how to build a compost pile, and listed "paper" along with things to NOT include. The article didn't go into details why.

I've been shredding our junk mail, along with bank statements & other sensitive papers, and adding it to the compost pile. I find it satisfying to find some use for it other than the landfill. I've also put in brown paper bags, cheap paper plates, and newspaper at random intervals. It all decomposes nicely & quickly. The compost still looks/smells fine, the earthworms seem just as happy & none have grown two heads (yet).

I use the finished compost in pots & planters and in both the veg & butterfly gardens. Should any of us be worried?

 

[MeanQueenNadine]

1.) Stay away from metallic inks - do not compost or recycle bin them. This is just what it sounds like inks "mimicking" a metal look - actually does have metal.....Also do not recycle laminated or UV coated paper (plastic type sealers).

2.) Coated paper - coated on both sides (C2S) or only on one side (C1S) just like wood can be satin, dull, gloss finishes - recycle only do not compost. Just like wood you can tell by look and feel that is has a "finish". Its the "finish" that is full of chemicals your garden will not appreciate but I am off the philosophy wit

3.) Uncoated paper - compost or recycle. Looks & feels untreated & "raw". This is the type of paper your bank statements commonly come on so composting is a great idea in these times of ID theft...

I'm in the industry.....can you tell?

 

[cknmom]

I always throw any glossy papers away.We burn all our other papers. We don't have a compost as of yet(soon though) I was always told that glossy papers released chemicals when burned.

Monica