How long does it take for paper to break down in a compost?
Question:And what products can speed up the process?
Answers:
The key to speed for composting is mass. The bigger the pile, the faster the reaction. Now about that paper...and more to the point, the ink on it. Most "ink" is, in this century == icky chemicals. Metals for color, poly this and poly that for binders.icky stuff. Everyone that i know that composts, will only put newsprint with soybased inks into their bins. BTW, thanks for doing the right thing for our planet. #6
It is not a good idea to put paper into compost. Most newspaper or paper generally contains chemicals which are bad for most plants.It takes ages to decompose. If you try to hasten the time,then your compost won't be natural,and you'll be wasting your time.Why would you bother?
I do put shredded paper into my tumbler composter. It composts pretty quickly - within a few weeks. I add all raw veggie scraps - it's best if they're about 1 inch cubes (so, dice up your melon rinds, for example, into 1 inch cubes), egg shells, coffee grounds AND filters, grass clippings, dried leaves, dead/dried houseplant leaves. Just remember that you need both "greens" and "browns". Never put in dairy, oils, or meat products (or anything non-organic like plastic).
I collect the coffee grounds from work and the paper shredding from family.
Search for "composting" on a search engine and you'll find lots of basic guidelines. Here's one -
http://www.compostguide.com/
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