Many people advocate using newspaper as munch, but I was wondering about the chemicals in newsprint and if they are biodegradable. Does anone know? I'd like to hear comments on how newspaper could be consdered on the garden and how non-printed cardboard might compare. Eg I believe both would be considered "green", are they also "organic" or even "biodynamic" approaches to weed control?
g'day ramon, for the main most printed paper litterature uses soy based inks and natural colours from rock and vegetable. so this issue which crops up from time to time realy has no or very little impact used on a local scene. as a chemist said to me take a full page of glossy clour and the weight of the ink is less than 2% the total weight of paper and ink. he also said that printer's preffered more natural product as it was often cheaper to use. i use it all but generally only use paper at the initial planting or garden building stage. and observations tell me the worms seem to love eating those coloured brochures first. len
no problems with chemicals but on the other hand side: paper should be recycled into paper - isn't it so ? But we use newspaper as well in our chookhouse under the straw in the nestboxes and we compost it entirely.
