compost vs recycling?

jenny1223

I don't compost, but hope to start this summer.  I was wondering if it's "better" to compost paper or recycle it?  (Assuming the hypothetical paper could be composted or recycled.)

KLF01

I think you can do both. If we composted all of our paper, I think it would be too much paper on the pile. You need to have a balance, I think. We recycle a lot of paper, and our compost pile would be all paper if we put all of it in there, but I'm interested in what other people have to say.

toadstool

KLF01:

I think you can do both. If we composted all of our paper, I think it would be too much paper on the pile. You need to have a balance, I think. We recycle a lot of paper, and our compost pile would be all paper if we put all of it in there, but I'm interested in what other people have to say.

I don't know which is more EF if that is what OP is asking, but we do this.

CDMay2006

Composting diverts the energy and matter of the paper from the landfill into soil.  This is good, but recycling the paper also does this, but also makes it back into paper products, which prevents additional logging and deforestation.  This is better.  If recycling isn't an option (as with food-soiled paper products), then compost.  Otherwise, reduce and reuse, then recycle.

7river7wed7

I forget what source I was reading, but as we were starting our compost pile one of the what-you-can-and-can't-compost lists said you should recycle first, and compost what can't be recycled. So newspapers and such can be composted, but it's more EF to recycle them.

Jen&Joe06

We put our shredded paper into our compost. Our recycling trucks won't take shredded paper so this was a good solution for us. Everything else is recycled.

SuperGreen

CDMay2006:

Composting diverts the energy and matter of the paper from the landfill into soil.  This is good, but recycling the paper also does this, but also makes it back into paper products, which prevents additional logging and deforestation.  This is better.  If recycling isn't an option (as with food-soiled paper products), then compost.  Otherwise, reduce and reuse, then recycle.

This.  We started with reducing our paper waste, which included cancelling all unwanted magazines and trying to cut out junk mail as best we could.  We try to write things down (like directions) on small scraps of paper rather than printing out a whole sheet.  We then recycle all the paper we can so it can get turned into recycled paper products, which reduces logging and deforestation.  We use our compost on our vegetable garden so I'm pretty picky about what goes in there.  All kitchen and garden scraps (with the exception of self-seeding weeds) get composted, but as far as paper we only do the compostable paper bags coffee comes in from Whole Foods, and the occasional newspaper if our compost needs more browns.  If we composted all our paper, our compost pile would be overwhelmed pretty quickly.

treesapplaud

• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle / Compost (for biogas)
• Compost (for garden use) 

I'd put them in that order of greenness. Few places compost to make biogas. Our municipality recently switched and the biogas runs the city buses. Garden compost is good (and we do it), but recycling and cutting down less trees is better.