Is Composting Paper Bad? | The Survival Gardener

D writes:

“I just watched one of your composting videos, which Marjory Wildcraft had put up.

You stated anything could be composted. What about bleached paper towel?
paper with ink? (including cardboard, and egg cartons)  Do we need to be
careful about the toxins, which might then go into the otherwise organic
plants?

Also at one point I read garlic and onion shouldn’t be put into compost,
because they were too acidic or something like that. Is this actually true?”

I replied:

“I don’t worry about the potential toxins – most inks are now non-toxic. Composting also renders a lot of things inert.

If we were to be complete purists, we could hardly compost anything due to pesticides, environmental contaminants, herbicides, etc. 

I compost everything I can. Garlic and onions are fine too. People like to add a lot of rules that aren’t necessary – nature is designed to be an amazing recycler. The purifying and transforming work of fungi and bacteria is amazing.”

I now realize I said “amazing” twice, in two consecutive sentences. Amazing!

There is a risk of trying to find absolute purity in a fallen and broken world. Almost everything has some sort of contaminant in it. We do the best with what we have.

Don’t worry too much unless you know something is full of lead or aminopyralid or something. Compost everything.

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