Composting cardboard packaging

Hi all.

Can cardboard packaging be composted?

I think it can, but I've read a few articles recommending against it because of nasty chemicals in the print, and those chemicals ending up in the plants.

Are these concerns legit?

 

Wouldn't it depend on whether you'll be using the compost for a veg plot or for ornamental plants? Going back to one of our favourite subjects, worms, if there was anything harmful to soil organisms then either they'd avoid the cardboard or there'd be a lot of dead worms around. When you think about it, man-made fertilisers are made up of nasty chemicals, but we still use them.....

 

@Clueless 1 v2 I don't worry about it, most of the printing inks these days are fairly environmentally friendly. Also the plants have to take up these chemicals and unless the "nasty chemical" is fairly similar to a chemical the plant would tale up anyway that's fairly unlikely.
You will have to retrieve the sticky tape from the compost.

 

I must admit, many of the articles I read that said not to, were written by the same kinds of people that worry about aluminium poisoning from cooking using pans.

I'd have thought that if the chemicals were nasty enough to end up in plants at toxic levels they'd also be nasty enough to get in through your skin when handling the packaging.

I thought I'd better check though in case I'd missed something.

 

I've been ripping up cardboard & paper for years to put in my bins, you do need to keep the bins damp.

I find reading too many articles on the same subject gets confusing with the different answers given.

Only trust this forum

 

I've been using cardboard and as Nigel says the worst part is the miles of sticky tape.

 

I've taken to keeping a carrier bag near the compost heap to put tape in after the molluscs have removed the gum.
Life is too short to remove all the tape from the boxes before putting them in the compost heap, quite often I don't tear them up much and use them as a layer beneath the old compost bags as a bit of insulation and helping to keep the heap damp.

 

I usually stick to dull brown cardboards, for the compost bin. Find that the shiny ones don't break down so easily, so put those in the recycling.

Incidentally the compost bin can also make a good place to dispose of sensitive paperwork, receipts and that kind of thing - our Council won't take paper that's been shredded, but it breaks down well in the bin.

The brandling/tiger worms in the bin really seem to love being given cardboard - come wriggling to the top to munch it up. Think I have read that they are drawn by the fish glue used to assemble the boxes.

 

Both my daughter & grandaughter have long hair, and excess goes in my Compost Bin.

 

I usually just recycle my cardboard, might have to start composting it now didnt know it was possible!

 

Just mix it with some Green waste.