Hi Everyone,

I've heard that you should only use black & white newspaper for mulching/composting and none with colored ink because of the lead it may contain. Does anyone know if this is correct info - are there new color inks now that do not contain toxic ink? I use a lot of newspaper in the garden and was just wondering if I should continue separating out the colored sheets. Thanks for any info!

-- Barb (rosemontfarm1@aol.com), February 10, 2001

Answers

I am like you Barb, I have always separated out the sheets with the color. I have heard that almost everyone has gone to soy based colored ink, so we probably don't have to do that anymore. I would check with the newspaper that you are using. I just haven't done that yet. Old habits just die hard huh?

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 10, 2001.

I also think almost all newspaper inks today are soy-based. My only concern is any of the slick papers used would bio-degenerate as nicely as newspapers. Besides, I save the Sunday comics for gift wrapping.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 10, 2001.

They outlawed the use of lead in paint, so it stands to reason that they'd do the same with inks used in newspapers. I agree with the advice to check with your newspaper's printing office (ask about any other bad chemicals).

-- Wingnut (wingnut@moment.net), February 10, 2001.

Barb, newspapers haven't used leaded ink for a good many years now. You can safely use the comics in your garden. I echo the concern about slick paper inserts -- slow to degrade, and I don't know what other chemicals are used in the supercalendaring process that creates them.

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), February 10, 2001.

Thanks for the responses everybody. I feel much better now about my newspaper mulching!

-- Barb (rosemontfarm1@aol.com), February 10, 2001.

Since the advent of soy inks, and because people were not using the slick inserts for gardening for the reasons cited, I decided to experiment this year using the slick papers to mulch around some apple trees. I laid them down fairly thickly, then put lawn clippings over them. They were nearly broken down before fall in one season's time.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), February 10, 2001.

My understanding is that most inks are organic, usually soy, with the exception of bright yellows, which are still cadmium-based. I would like to be told that this is wrong. We separate all colored paper out.

-- Martin Boraas (boraas@miliserv.net), February 10, 2001.

I have only one problem with using the comics..........I start reading the good parts of all the newspapers or the daily funnies and I get so tickled or side tracked that it takes a while to do my mulching!!!! I have to cover my newspapers with mulch or it would take me all week to pick one row, snicker, snicker!!!!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 10, 2001.

Recycling newspaper as mulch in your garden may not always be as safe as we've been told, according to recent tests at Auburn University. Researchers found that a half inch mulch of ground paper pellets (made from 75% newsprint plus small amounts of magazines and phone books) caused severe reductions in the growth of a variety of plants. The problem appears to be the large amounts of aluminum added to the paper during the manufactoring process. The aluminum can leach out of the paper mulch and prevent plant roots from absorbing phosphorus. Without phosphorus, plants simply cannot grow well.

-- Organic Gardening, Jan/Feb 1999

-- Bed-wetting Liberal (no_em@il.org), February 15, 2001.