Using Shredded Paper for Coop Litter - As Good As Wood Chips?

[gtaus]

My organico bin doesn’t get much action these days since most of what used to go in there goes to the chickens now, to eat or for the run.

Same with me. I'd rather feed whatever kitchen scraps and leftovers to the chickens first. We have very little organic material left for the pallet compost bins. Maybe some old moldy food every once in a great while ends up in the pallet compost bin.

 

[RoyalChick]

Same with me. I'd rather feed whatever kitchen scraps and leftovers to the chickens first. We have very little organic material left for the pallet compost bins. Maybe some old moldy food every once in a great while ends up in the pallet compost bin.

Same with me. But I do compost the pine pellet cat litter. It just takes forever to break down.

 

[BDutch]

What is downcycling?

We call it downcycling if it gets less value. For example, really old clothing can’t be used for new clothing. If the recyclers make carpet underlay or (sound) insulation material from it, it is less valuable but still reused.
Same with the reuse of mixed plastics , these are impossible to use again for food packaging. They melt it to make street furniture, garden planks, bollards, picnic sets and such.
High quality office paper is often down-cycled too into newspaper quality paper, paper for packaging, cardboard , egg cartons and toilet paper.
Glass from conservatives and wine bottles are often recycled. After collecting they melt it and make new bottles (with the same value) from the trashed glass.

 

[NatJ]

I have done that a couple of times but was put off the idea because they packed them in a plastic bag.
Naively I thought I would have to bring my own bucket!

I've gotten grounds from Starbucks a few times, for my compost pile.
They were obviously putting the grounds into a garbage can, lined with a plastic bag.
So when I asked about grounds, they pulled out that plastic bag, tied the top, and gave it to me.

I've found that Starbucks grounds need a little bit of sorting, because they have some coffee filters and the occasional cup, spoon, or plastic straw. But of course the coffee filters aren't a problem in a compost pile, and there were not many of the other things. I don't know whether Starbucks does things differently in different parts of the country, or if Covid has changed anything (the last time I got grounds was before that.)

 

[RoyalChick]

I've gotten grounds from Starbucks a few times, for my compost pile.
They were obviously putting the grounds into a garbage can, lined with a plastic bag.
So when I asked about grounds, they pulled out that plastic bag, tied the top, and gave it to me.

I've found that Starbucks grounds need a little bit of sorting, because they have some coffee filters and the occasional cup, spoon, or plastic straw. But of course the coffee filters aren't a problem in a compost pile, and there were not many of the other things. I don't know whether Starbucks does things differently in different parts of the country, or if Covid has changed anything (the last time I got grounds was before that.)

It depends on the individual store manager apparently.

 

[Sally PB]

I asked at the Biggby near me several years ago, bc. (Before chickens) They would not save grounds, period. Too much mess for them to deal with.

 

[gtaus]

Same with me. But I do compost the pine pellet cat litter. It just takes forever to break down.

I don't have cats, but I don't suppose I would want cat poo anywhere near my chickens. Is cat poo safe for even the pallet compost bin? Don't know. Also, wondering if a person could use paper shreds for the cat litter box. Just throwing out the idea, not endorsing it. At least paper shreds would break down fast. Again, I don't/never had cats so not speaking from experience.

 

[gtaus]

We call it downcycling if it gets less value.

Thanks for explanation. That makes sense.

 

[RoyalChick]

I don't have cats, but I don't suppose I would want cat poo anywhere near my chickens. Is cat poo safe for even the pallet compost bin? Don't know. Also, wondering if a person could use paper shreds for the cat litter box. Just throwing out the idea, not endorsing it. At least paper shreds would break down fast. Again, I don't/never had cats so not speaking from experience.

No the cat litter compost doesn’t go near chickens or vegetables. There is paper based cat litter. I prefer the pine based - it is the same as the pellets people use in horse stables. It breaks down to sawdust.

 

[gtaus]

I asked at the Biggby near me several years ago, bc. (Before chickens) They would not save grounds, period. Too much mess for them to deal with.

I think that's the problem with any recycle or reuse program. If it costs the company more time or money to recycle, they have no incentive to do so.

I can remember as a little kid we would go around picking up glass pop bottles and return them to the store for a few pennies each. I know that does not sound like much, but a candy bar was maybe 10 or 15 cents back then. So, for a kid, if you could find and pick up a few pop bottles, then you got a nice candy bar treat for your effort. Having said that, it was terrible that people would be tossing out glass bottles on the road, or ditch. Too many bottles were broken and that was just not safe. Plastic and aluminum cans are much safer in that respect, but where I live, there is no easy way to turn them in for a refund. You can bring them out to the country scrap metal center, but unless you have bags and bags of pop cans, you can't even cover the cost of gas to turn in the cans.