If you have a healthy, active organic soil, I would say 'yes'. Most photocopier ink and all laser printer inks are still petroleum-based, not soy-based like newspapers, etc. I believe the petroleum-based inks mainly volatilize into air pollution when the inks are exposed to the heat of the printers, so the amount in the paper should be fairly minimal.

While many people in the die-hard organic community would shriek in horror, the actuality is that a healthy soil can break down petroleum products if the amount is not overwhelming. That is why chemical farmers can change over to certified organic in three years: restoring the soil restores its ability to break down the compounds that the farm was formerly exposed to.

Sue

Thanks Sue for your recommendation. I do have gardens on their way to be very organic. Just starting out with a new build so it's taking a lot of conditioning for the hard packed clay like soil to get healthy.

yes, it shreds great or can be used as a weed barrier layer if enough sheets & then add compost on top.

I wish you a great garden season. Concentrate on one area for production & the others for soil building/compost making. Next year will be even better. It can be overwhelming to do it all at once.

Lasagna gardening (layering up) really does work. Lots of info here on GW about it.

My best tip for you with conditioning hard clay soil is to build all the compost you can using a wide variety of materials. Many things are free (stable manures, coffee grounds, hay sweepings from feed store, scrap paper, cardboard, your own plant waste, grass clippings, leaves, etc.)

Household paper composts well. Make it easy for family to deposit the papers you want to save. After various methods of collecting household compost ingredients I figured out how to encourage the family to sort the trash & we no longer have a yucky compost bucket on the counter, under the sink, by the back door, etc. that no one wants to dump out. We use a contained compost bin (2 Earth Machines) outside for our household waste that includes food scraps. I remove compost as needed from the bottom & twice a year dump it all out into another compost pile because it never fully composts in there as we layer it up from the top. It's too hard to stir contents. Now that I don't expect the Earth Machine to compost it fully it's more of a storage container, but it works well to keep us composting year round.

In each bathroom: a separate trash can for papers only (facial tissue, empty rolls, etc., but no cleaning products on them)

In kitchen in front of our trash can between stove & frig:

-paper shredder: junk mail, copy paper, newspaper, cereal boxes, etc.

-step on trash used for compostables (plant waste, soiled paper napkins, coffee filters & coffee grounds, etc.) For easier dumping I line with a plastic bag, paper waste 1st, then wet waste. I empty contents & let the bag dry again before putting back inside. First in is the paper waste from the bathrooms, then it's ready for kitchen waste again. That way it's not a sloppy mess at the bottom & dumps out easily each week to reuse the liner bag.

-recyclables go in a plastic bag slung on the pantry door.

If a family member is pressed for time -- papers/broken down boxes are slipped next to the trash can for later shredding.

This has worked well for us & doubled our kitchen compost volume. Since we raise chickens most edibles go out to them, but kitchen counter crumbs, onion skins & coffee grounds go into the compost bin. I used to be the compost "police" & admit it annoyed the family as I trained everyone to compost more, but no longer since we set up our system of the paper trash. It's easy now.

Thanks Corrinne for all the helpful information. I've already added composted garden soil I bought from a garden center that makes it themselves then delivers it by the truckload. I always have kitchen waste and accumulating a lot of paper. I'm seeing worms so I know things are coming along nicely. Thanks again.