Printed/coated cardboard – how do we feel about shredding these and adding?
I apologize if this has been discussed at length already. I joined ~3 months ago and haven't seen a definitive answer. Can we shred these and add? I know they differ slightly – which ones can we compost?
The shiny coated ones are going to have wax or even plastic in the coating, so I personally avoid it.
Printed ink like on that U-Haul box has petroleum-derived polymers so it’s not great, but it’s in much smaller amounts so I don’t worry about it as much and I do put printed stuff like that in.
Ryutso
I routinely shred the soda boxes and compost them, both with worms and in my tumbler. I also used a good amount of them in my new bin.
M23707
some boxes say they are printed with soy based inks …
It makes me wonder if we need .. or is there one … a compost friendly symbol to be added to packaging
agreatkumquat
Why would you compost plastic? Seems like the cons far outweigh the pros here… composting doesn’t just magically remove plastic, unless it’s specifically designed to be home compostable (very new concept). Way better for both the environment and your pile to just crush it and chuck it in the trash
RustyPlanks
If it reads paper box on it and has the arrow go round symbol I shred it and it goes in. I do not with any other boxes that look similar but lack this marking. With this strategy my compost looks good and I have never seen any plastic. I could be wrong in this approach.
6 Comments
I do it.
The shiny coated ones are going to have wax or even plastic in the coating, so I personally avoid it.
Printed ink like on that U-Haul box has petroleum-derived polymers so it’s not great, but it’s in much smaller amounts so I don’t worry about it as much and I do put printed stuff like that in.
I routinely shred the soda boxes and compost them, both with worms and in my tumbler. I also used a good amount of them in my new bin.
some boxes say they are printed with soy based inks …
It makes me wonder if we need .. or is there one … a compost friendly symbol to be added to packaging
Why would you compost plastic? Seems like the cons far outweigh the pros here… composting doesn’t just magically remove plastic, unless it’s specifically designed to be home compostable (very new concept). Way better for both the environment and your pile to just crush it and chuck it in the trash
If it reads paper box on it and has the arrow go round symbol I shred it and it goes in. I do not with any other boxes that look similar but lack this marking. With this strategy my compost looks good and I have never seen any plastic. I could be wrong in this approach.