Junk mail, wonderful junk mail

[Jay Blair]

I know many folks complain of the junk mail that floods our mail boxes at least two days a week, but for those of us who are small scale worm farmers and gardeners that flood of toss out mail is a treasure.

I recycle it all. I open it and any blank back fliers from the "card deck' coupon packs I save for scratch paper by the phone.

Any business reply envelopes I put into my garden supply box to use as seed envelopes when I harvest seeds from my garden at end of season and then vacuum pack and refrigerate until the next season.

I then rip the plastic window front of the main envelope and put it in a wal mart bag. When I have enough , I shred it separately for use as surface mulch just under a layer of broken twig mulch around my decorative outdoor bushes as a weed barrier.

All the paper circular , glossy and plain , I shred as paper bedding for my worm bins.

Years ago on a now defunct worm forum we discussed weather worms could consume glossy circular paper. . I ran a test bin and discovered that the microbe activity in the decomposing bedding broke the glossy laminate down and the worms then consumed the slick paper also.

So I now mix my slick surface paper 50/50 with non gloss shredded paper and my bins convert it equally well as pulp grade news print.

So remember, as long as we have worms , welcome that junk mail coming to us in snail mail. Its 100% recyclable

[jimmy2s83]

Well Jay,
You answered a question I was going to post in the next upcoming days. I was curious about wheter I could use the glossy paper or not. I avoided it in this first batch but will remember that its ok to mix some in. Although it will be a while before I need new bedding.
Jimmy
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[jwalker]

jay you have way to much time on you hands or your organizational skills are execelent

[priswell]

This is an old thread, but I'd like to chime in on this.

We also shred our junk mail, but there's a perk to it that we didn't think about until we had done it for a couple of years - Security/privacy. Just think. Sometimes, people go through other people's trash to look for more than cans and bottles. They are identity thieves and they can get a lot of information off of junk mail.

At our house, this is nearly impossible. We shred all junk mail, and put it in the compost as a top dressing to preserve moisture and protect the pile. Every day that goes by, it becomes less and less likely that anyone, even the most determined little rascal, can obtain any useful information from our mail.

It's a perk to composting.

[Jay Blair]

shredding identity sensitive material will also increase your bedding potentials greatly.