Junk mail composting

I'm levelling up my compost making this year. I've learnt a lot about mixing green and brown waste but haven't put it into practice other than chucking the odd shredded and soggy egg box into my worm bin. I get a colossal amount of junk mail. Initially I tried unsubscribing but that seemed to result in more of the stuff. With my Permies hat on, I'm now looking at this as a free resource rather than something to get angry about. However, some of it looks a bit icky, maybe sprayed in plastic or what ever it is they use to make things super shiny. These mostly come from estate agents / real estate companies who are too lazy to check that I rent and won't sell this house with them. On the plus side, I appear to have ended up on a lot of organic seed company mail lists and their mail is just as organic as their product. So what can I shred and compost and what should I avoid? What about those clear windows? Is that plastic or something that will breakdown to good stuff? I'm guessing in the future I could use the rejects to start my RMH . . .

I've read the plastic window on the envelopes is polystyrene so I would avoid putting that into compost. Some have mentioned that when a RMH is hot that it could vaporize plastic, and wondered if it could therefore be a clean way to convert it into heating energy. but it has been warned that plastic has a lot of energy in it so if properly burned the combustion chamber would in theory reach much higher temps depending on how much you burned. I would be concerned that it wasn't fully burned, and wouldn't have a way to confirm that I'm not putting harmful particulates up into the atmosphere that my neighbors could breathe in.

It is my understanding that most paper products have a fire retardant on them.  I don't know what the chemical would be.  I do know that when I used to try using junk mail and grocery store ads for fire starter it wouldn't burn very well until the wood stove got hot.  Usually now I throw it away unless I have a good hot fire in the woodstove at the time.

What is in the dye used to print the stuff?  The amount would be small but if it isn't beneficial it would not be helpful for your compost.

Just something to consider.

Avoid anything glossy and tear out the plastic view windows. Otherwise, most inks are organic, if not, then trust your soil biology to neutralize any toxins.

What I mainly use junk mail or waste paper is adding them to holes for tree plantings. This technique was described by Brad Lancaster in Dryland Water Harvesting. You simply dig your hole a little deeper than you need and throw in a wad of paper, then wet it down. This will will create a water retaining sponge, and can help the tree get through the dry times. The organic material will also supply some nutrients to the plant and improve the soil quality over time.

Other uses for junk mail
-added as a layer to hugelkultures
-as a layer in sheet mulching to start a new garden bed. This would be best under the cardboard.
-worm food
-biochar
-Laid flat around new trees to suppress weeds, but you would need to weigh it down with more mulch.
-If shredded makes excellent bedding for chickens or rabbits and produces excellent compost when it absorbs the animals' manure.
-Shredded paper can be serviceable mulch. Try to mix it with another mulch or it will clump and become impervious to water.
-if nothing else, burn it and mix the ashes with compost as a brown ingredient

Mark Brunnr wrote:I've read the plastic window on the envelopes is polystyrene so I would avoid putting that into compost. Some have mentioned that when a RMH is hot that it could vaporize plastic, and wondered if it could therefore be a clean way to convert it into heating energy. but it has been warned that plastic has a lot of energy in it so if properly burned the combustion chamber would in theory reach much higher temps depending on how much you burned. I would be concerned that it wasn't fully burned, and wouldn't have a way to confirm that I'm not putting harmful particulates up into the atmosphere that my neighbors could breathe in.

Thanks Mark. I hadn’t thought through the consequences of burning plastics. I wouldn’t want to add anything harmful to the atmosphere in my neighbourhood.

Michael Fundaro wrote:It is my understanding that most paper products have a fire retardant on them.  I don't know what the chemical would be.  I do know that when I used to try using junk mail and grocery store ads for fire starter it wouldn't burn very well until the wood stove got hot.  Usually now I throw it away unless I have a good hot fire in the woodstove at the time.

What is in the dye used to print the stuff?  The amount would be small but if it isn't beneficial it would not be helpful for your compost.

Just something to consider.

Thanks Michael. I think I’ll stick to using the less icky looking stuff for compost. I have no idea what chemicals they use.

Skyler Weber wrote:Avoid anything glossy and tear out the plastic view windows. Otherwise, most inks are organic, if not, then trust your soil biology to neutralize any toxins.

What I mainly use junk mail or waste paper is adding them to holes for tree plantings. This technique was described by Brad Lancaster in Dryland Water Harvesting. You simply dig your hole a little deeper than you need and throw in a wad of paper, then wet it down. This will will create a water retaining sponge, and can help the tree get through the dry times. The organic material will also supply some nutrients to the plant and improve the soil quality over time.

Other uses for junk mail
-added as a layer to hugelkultures
-as a layer in sheet mulching to start a new garden bed. This would be best under the cardboard.
-worm food
-biochar
-Laid flat around new trees to suppress weeds, but you would need to weigh it down with more mulch.
-If shredded makes excellent bedding for chickens or rabbits and produces excellent compost when it absorbs the animals' manure.
-Shredded paper can be serviceable mulch. Try to mix it with another mulch or it will clump and become impervious to water.
-if nothing else, burn it and mix the ashes with compost as a brown ingredient

Thanks Skyler - great reply and lots of useful information.

I remember reading somewhere about someone who did an experiment and grew two of the same plant in the same area, but buried a phone book under one.
The plant with the phone book grew larger and was healthier, since the phone book soaked up water and acted like a sponge, like what Skyler mentioned with trees.

If I remember where I read that, I'll add it to this thread.