Paper: Compost or Recycle?

A while ago, a friend asked me which was better, composting paper or recycling it.

That is a really good question that required me to do a bit of research.

And the answer is that it depends.

Paper is not infinitely recyclable (unlike glass), it’s fibers eventually degrade in quality after being recycled 5-7 times. Printer and office paper require strong fibers, so its fibers have only been recycled a couple times. Newspaper, wrapping paper, and tissue paper, on the other hand, can use lower quality fibers.

Here is what should be recycled and what should be composted and in what situation:

Recycle

• Glossy magazines, advertisements, and catalogs (these are more likely to contain toxic additives you won’t want in our compost if you are using it to grow produce)
• Office paper
• Sticky notes

In general, paper that is of higher quality should be recycled so that it can be used again, thus saving resources compared to virgin paper production.

Compost

• Paper products that are soiled with food waste, like napkins, paper towels, and paper plates (they can’t be recycled anyway)
• Newspaper
• Tissues
• Brown paper bags with food stains from takeout
• Greasy pizza box
• Shredded paper (even if it is shredded office paper, it cannot be recycled)

As for composting, it is better to add lower quality paper that is less likely to be recycled. In addition, adding paper is good for the health of your compost pile, helps keep it from being smelly, and absorbs water.

Unfortunately, some paper products can’t be recycled or composted and have to be reused or ultimately end up in the trash can.

Landfill

• Plastic coated paper products like coffee cups
• Glittery, glossy, and metallic wrapping paper
• Glittery tissue paper

So there you go!

There are some other things to remember though.

1. When buying paper products, opt for post-consumer recycled content to save as many trees as possible. There needs to be a demand for it!
2. Soley composting high-quality paper keeps those good fibers from the production stream, meaning there is less recycled paper to work with, also meaning more virgin resources being used.

 

Resources

• http://www.greenhome.com/blog/recycle-or-compost-paper-products
• https://livegreen.recyclebank.com/because-you-asked-when-should-i-compost-paper-instead-of-recycling-it
• https://earth911.com/home-garden/composting-recycling-compare/
• https://www.recyclebycity.com/chicago/guide

An Ode to That One Planet We Can Live On

Earth Day had always been my favorite “holiday” as a child. I am not even kidding.

I have vivid memories of my elementary school class going outside and planting a tree. We could buy t-shirts with endangered whales, swirling clouds, and towering trees on them.

Our planet Earth provides us with so much that no blog post could ever cover it all.

So instead of writing over and over again of how important this Earth Day is, I am just going to show you its beauty and just some of what it has provided, for me personally, in pictures from my everyday life.

Hey Planet Earth, you provide me with:

A place to play softball.

National Mall, Washington DC

A forest to ride through.

Cal-Sag Trail, Palos Park, IL

A place to take it all in.

Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

The opportunity to enhance it.

Casey Tree planting, Washington DC

Fond family memories. 

Lake Wandawega, Elkhorn, WI

Somewhere to splash my toes in. 

Lake Michigan, Chicago, IL

The reminder of nature in a concrete jungle.

Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL

How amazing the tide is. 

Sand flats, Duxbury, MA

Sunsets that are top notch. 

New Buffalo, MI

And sunrises that are equally fantastic.

Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Fall colors make my heart melt. 

Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

And breathtaking ocean views.

Big Sur, CA

The power of water.

Niagara Falls, NY

Planet Earth, you remind us of just how tiny we are.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

 

How are you celebrating Earth Day?

EPA Blog Re-Post #2

Due to certain political circumstances, I will be re-posting links to EPA blogs I wrote while I was working there.

Here is the second one. Originally posted January 17, 2014.*

*I apologize if some links are no longer active. This is a few year old. 

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Street Trees: More than Meets the Eye

Around the Water Cooler, ecosystem services, EPA Water Research, Green Infrastructure, i-Tree, street trees, sustainability, Tree City USA, trees, USDA Forest Service 3 Comments

By Marguerite Huber

Ever since I took an urban forestry course in graduate school, I can’t help but always look at trees. I look at their bark, their roots, and their leaves. But when I look at trees, I am not just seeing their physical attributes. I also see all the conceptual benefits they provide to our communities.

Trees are not just a pretty fixture in your backyard. They provide many ecosystem services to our cities and towns, including: improving air quality, absorbing and storing carbon, supplying privacy, reducing noise, increasing property value, and decreasing building energy use. Trees are an important aspect of the green infrastructure that helps reduce storm water flow.

Amazingly, you don’t have to be an arborist to calculate tree benefits; you can use i-Tree , a USDA Forest Service model that uses sampling data to estimate street tree benefits.

In the fall of 2013, EPA scientists began research on “street trees” (trees growing in the public right-of-way, usually in between the street and the sidewalk) in nine communities in the Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan area. The randomly selected communities all differ in geographic setting, socioeconomic characteristics, and street tree management practices.

Their research aims to answer such questions as: Can street tree structure and benefits be explained by management practices, socioeconomic conditions, or historical or geographic factors? How might invasive pests affect street trees and their benefits? How will existing street tree structure and benefits change in the future under various scenarios of tree growth and mortality, management practices, and pest outbreaks?

Researchers sampled more than 53 miles of street right-of-way along more than 600 street segments and inventoried nearly 3,000 trees. The street tree benefits were estimated using i-Tree Streets.

At this time researchers are still analyzing street tree benefits and their relation to community characteristics such as management practices, socioeconomics, and geographic setting. So far they have found management practices to be particularly important, with Tree City USA  participants gaining greater benefits than communities that do not participate. Since analyses are still continuing, the findings on the other community characteristics will be released in the coming months.

When the project is completed, the researchers will have deliverables such as street tree inventory data that can be shared with community officials and an understanding of which community characteristics influence street tree structure and ecosystem services.

I invite you to check out i-Tree for yourself; I suspect as you’ll realize there are more to street trees than meets the eye.

Read the post in its original format here. 

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Read the other posts:

• EPA Blog Re-Post #1