Recycled cardboard/newspaper issue

[chris]

Just read this: BBC News - Food sold in recycled cardboard packaging 'poses risk'

Do you think it's a concern for those of us who compost newspaper?

[Bren In Pots]

I thought newspapers used vegetable dyes these days.

[smallblueplanet]

Is using recycled newspaper & cardboard a hazard?

Just been reading an article on the Beeb website - how does it affect home composting of these materials (beside the original health hazard!)?

BBC News - Food sold in recycled cardboard packaging poses risk

Leading food manufacturers are changing their packaging because of health concerns about boxes made from recycled cardboard, the BBC has learned.
Researchers found toxic chemicals from recycled newspapers had contaminated food sold in many cardboard cartons.
The chemicals, known as mineral oils, come from printing inks.
....

Worrying.

[Mikey]

They reckon you need years of exposure for it to be a hazard.

The FSA are currently only looking into the amount of oil in recycled card rather than the amount which can be leaked into our food by the packaging. So it could be a couple of years before we find out.

The only company that I heard already used virgin card was Jordans, but others were looking into alternative sources for their cardboard.

[Parsleythelion]

I'm sorry to have a rant, but I have stopped watch BBC Breakfast/Sky news (and buying newspapers) becasue I think the BBC (and other broadcasters) are just justifying the license fee (or their wages) on this and many similar stories. This is a "no news" story that is designed to cause a panic where there shouldn't be and is filler for a three hour television programme. As with most of these stories there is always an outside chance of some hazard but you would need to be exposed, prone or alergic (or really really unlucky) to come to any harm. This story will be next weeks chip wrappers (if only you were allowed to use old newspapers to wrap your chips anymore!!!). If these stories were so important they would be followed up regularly and you would see positive action but they dissapear only to be relaced by more no news stories. You cannot fill a three hour programme with stories on Libya, politics, sport and other factual and important stories there has to be some padding.

Other examples Birdflu - not the pandemic we were told it would be. Swineflu - sadly took some lives but many had other underlying health problems, old or young, but in a population of 50 million people a couple of hundred cases isn't really an epidemic.

Rant over, sorry I am going to return to the shed on my allotment and think about what I have just said.

[smallblueplanet]

...This is a "no news" story that is designed to cause a panic where there shouldn't be and is filler for a three hour television programme...

If there's 'no news' why are company's changing their packaging?

You prefer to stick your head in the sand and not know about it, I prefer to know about it and attempt to make an informed decision, based on as much fact as possible.

[smallblueplanet]

They reckon you need years of exposure for it to be a hazard...

They said for a long time there wasn't a provable link between smoking & lung cancer...

How many years composting or buying this packaging do we need? How long have the packages been used?

[oldie]

This is only an initial report so I don't think we need to get paranoid about it. We will no doubt get further information later when all the evidence has been checked and peer reviewed. Food manufacturers have to act quickly to avoid any possibility of being sued if there does turn out to have been real harm done.

[Poddington Pea]

Just another reason to 'grow your own'!
I too do not watch the news or read news papers regularly anymore. I wish I had done this years ago tbh as alot of the negative thoughts and worries I now have probably wouldn't exist. You call it burying your head in the sand, I call it living a happy and positive life.
Each to their own
x

[bubblewrap]

Eating sprouts causes excess wind, methane is a greenhouse gas BAN Sprouts.

You can't take ALL risk out of life.

[Katog]

Mineral Oils in Cardboard

Mineral Oils leaching from newsprint in recycled Cardboard.
I heard about this on the news and am a quite worried as I have uses a lot of card and newspaper on the field to stop weeds prior to growing veggies! I thought UK printing inks were OK. Can anyone enlighten me?
What do you think about it?

[Shadylane]

I shall do what I normally do in these situations and carry on regardless If there are chemicals in the cardboard I compost, which could contaminate any food it came into contact with, then I'm not going to worry too much as I don't eat my compost.

Still it's up to you in the end. Personally I think you can get cancer form just about anything these days, in fact I hear you can get cancer from worrying about getting cancer. Our allotment is on ground that used to be a tip. I expect there's plenty of chemicals down there and I don't think the rain is one hundred percent pure anymore or has been for a long time. You control what you can but at the end of the day you can't eradicate all risk of contamination. Just my opinion though

[timethatthetaleweretold]

I shall do what I normally do in these situations and carry on regardless If there are chemicals in the cardboard I compost, which could contaminate any food it came into contact with, then I'm not going to worry too much as I don't eat my compost.

Absolutely!

As Parselythelion says, this is "no news".

I put tons of cardboard/paper food packaging in my compost bins.
The whole point of composting is that poisons are broken down by microbes and decomposition.

I don't see that the inks are likely to be any more poisonous than other "miscellaneous" compost ingredients.
What about the non-organic supermarket veg scraps contaminated with pesticides and weedkiller?
What about the poisons leaching from the plastic compost bin itself into the compost?!

Indeed we shouldn't be foolish and ignore genuine information, but I do resent the media attempting to manage our "worry timetables".

A few years ago there was scares about the effects of hormones leaching from cling film into food. I don't think the formula for cling-film was changed...

I'm not saying we should go back to popping thalidomide and living in asbestos houses, but this cardboard thing is no news for sure, as parselythelion suggests.

There's nobody walking around with no arms and legs because of the cardboard in their compost.

[timethatthetaleweretold]

Hmmm....

Well, having done a little reading I'm a bit concerned.
I don't want mineral oils in my compost.

This is a study which shows that mineral oils break down faster in soils ammended with compost.... So they do break down as a result of compost microbes:

ScienceDirect - Bioresource Technology : Effect of various amendments on heavy mineral oil bioremediation and soil microbial activity

But as someone who wants to do the best for my soil and me veg, I feel motivated to source those specific newspapers and packagers that eschew mineral oils in favour of vegetable-based inks etc.

Will post back it if I can find concrete proof of what inks our national newspapers use.
(not the rumours or oft-repeated beliefs).

[garlicgirl06]

i'm with parsleythelion and Poddington Pea on this one. I have felt much happier since not watching the news or reading newspapers. I don't feel like i'm behind the times on important stuff it's just my heads not filled with all the faff and i don't get concerned over the stuff they use to scare us out of our wits every few days. It is a personal choice as is to use cardboard/newspaper in compost or not. I shall continue to use both items until logic and/or a reasonable source tells me otherwise.