Hi, I read somewhere that a good way to get rid of unwanted plants is to put newspapers over the soil and then add organic material on top of it(mulch). Well, I did that, and was really happy about it, but couple of hours later started thinking that it could be the wrong thing and that magazines that I put over tha soil have a lot of colors in them that could contain poisons. Let me tell you what you think about it? Zed
Why not try to contact some of the magazines that you use, and ask if they used soy-based inks, or just regular inks? If they use the soy type, you're good. If not, maybe you'd best remove them. Sue
Sue, thanks for replay, I already started thinking that no one will answer. Its good idea to ask them, though I am not sure the answer will come before spring starts at what time I am going to remove them anyway and just leave the organic part.
What part of the world do you live in? Often councils already have this information, or organic organisations. Do you have a local permaculture group or organic group. Also, you should be able to just phone the magazines and find out pretty quick. You probably want to talk to the publisher/printer rather than the editorial/writing side. The magazines may have the information online already.
I am from Serbia - SE Europe. I doubt there is a local or goverment body that is taking care of this information as other more important things are not solved out like employment, refugees etc. As I know there is not anyone beside me interested in permacuture though there are people that grow organic food and even some kind of goverment body or sector that tries to popularize this form of agriculture. Environment is not the top priority but it will become an issue as whole region tries to become member of EU and we need to regulate and change a lot of things in that pursue. tnaks for replay pebble
hi zed great to see you posting, i don't think we get too many people from serbia here! The advice might be, the colour should be ok, but in future, try to use uncoloured.
I prefer to err on the side of caution i.e. if I don't know I won't use it. On the other hand do you have access to something else you can use instead? How much you have used is also part of the decision. The land may be able to handle a certain amount, and it may be more important to be building soil and growing food than worrying about the toxins. In general I feel ok about using newspaper and cardboard, but not glossy paper. But I know that in my country those former are safer than the latter.
Magazines can take ages to break down. I have seen some novel uses over my time... one guy stacked hundreds like bricks and used them as a wall for a fish pond (plastic liner unfortunately). He'll be in trouble if the liner tears...
Maybe the bigger question is why buy something that generates waste that you can't use..... There has to be some use for them. Tie them up tightly rolled and use them as logs in the fire?
The key thing is the magazine paper, many magazines ( and certain junk mail, color supplements, etc) use paper that contain wax or plastic, and these shouldn't be used as a weed barrier. Gabriel The Permaculture Fast Track https://home.comcast.net/~palalab