Composting soiled paper products

So, we normally segregate our garbage into compostables, recyclables, burnables and plain old garbage. I’m starting to think that we’re burning more than we need to be though, and that some of the stuff could be “browns” in our compost pile. The stuff I’m talking about is used napkins, paper towels, tissues and paper plates. I know anything soaked in grease/oil will break down more slowly and invite more scavengers, but aside from that, is there any reason not to include these things in the compost?

I should probably clarify that our compost pile is far from well managed. It’s basically a continually rotting heap of shredded paper, egg cartons and produce scraps. I fork it around once in a while, but not nearly as much as is recommended. It pretty much never “finishes”, but I dont mind because most of it get buried while making new garden beds and planting trees anyway.

I like to give the soft stuff like napkins and paper towels to my chickens, the shred it into nothingness.
A greasy pizza box gets burned, used whole as weed suppressant or trashed.

we really only use paper napkins when we have company (for just us, and for cleaning/paper towel applications, we use cloth), but when that happens we put the used napkins in the compost, and used coffee filters from my husband's business joins them.
Tissue and toilet paper goes in our trash (our water treatment system doesn't do well with paper flushing), though, not our compost, to avoid bacterial/parasitic horrors since the compost all gets used in my edible garden.

William Bronson wrote: I like to give the soft stuff like napkins and paper towels to my chickens, the shred it into nothingness.
A greasy pizza box gets burned, used whole as weed suppressant or trashed.

Do the chickens just rip it up, or do they eat any of it? We just got our first chicks and they are going on 7 weeks old now. I would be a little worried giving them dirty napkins and whatnot in case they eat it.

Tereza Okava wrote:we really only use paper napkins when we have company (for just us, and for cleaning/paper towel applications, we use cloth), but when that happens we put the used napkins in the compost, and used coffee filters from my husband's business joins them.
Tissue and toilet paper goes in our trash (our water treatment system doesn't do well with paper flushing), though, not our compost, to avoid bacterial/parasitic horrors since the compost all gets used in my edible garden.

We (mostly I)use a lot of paper towels. I’m trying to cut back and use cloth more, but for several reasons, its just inconvenient. I hate that excuse but it’s honestly all I’ve got! I never considered composting toilet paper unless we get a composting toilet in the future. But as far as used tissues go, I wonder if they should be treated similarly since they have our body fluids on them. I never considered that maybe throwing them in the “regular “ compost might not be a good idea, other than the fact that they may take a little longer to break down than some other stuff.

Brody Ekberg wrote:

William Bronson wrote: I like to give the soft stuff like napkins and paper towels to my chickens, the shred it into nothingness.
A greasy pizza box gets burned, used whole as weed suppressant or trashed.

Do the chickens just rip it up, or do they eat any of it? We just got our first chicks and they are going on 7 weeks old now. I would be a little worried giving them dirty napkins and whatnot in case they eat it.

Well these are old birds that have been roaming around the backyard for a long time in chicken years,  so I never worry they will eat anything bad for them-except for styrofoam, which they love for some reason.

As far as I can tell,  they just shred it,  like they do with tomato /potatoe leaves.

I wouldn't be adverse to eating some paper myself, and as long as the "dirt" on the napkins I'd organic,  not chemicals,  I think the chickens will be fine.

I just moved and have a bunch of cardboard and industrial tissue paper/packing paper, which I am wondering whether or not is compostable. The tissue paper is in large grey and beige sheets and is thicker than tissue paper used for gift bags. I can't tell if it's coated with something. I think it would absorb water if I soaked it.

Welcome to the forum.

Large amounts of cardboard will be hard to compost and there is sometimes printed and then there is the glue that holds the cardboard together.

Does your city not take those?

Your tissue paper sound like what I get a lot of which will probably compost in small amounts.  Again, does your city not accept those?