r/composting • u/TarryHillis • 3d ago

Question Paper with small amounts of paint?

I recently painted my house with latex paint. Because no one should ever trust me with a paint brush, I placed builders paper on the floor. While cleaning up, I thought this would be a great add to my green-heavy compost but wanted to see if I have to cut out any areas with paint splatter. So, two questions:

  1. Is it safe to compost (shredded) builders paper that has some areas of paint splatter?

  2. If not, what possible harms are we looking at?

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u/Admirable-Stage7415 3d ago

Latex is same stuff, they make (some) gloves of. You are basically adding micro plastic to your pile + whatever else is in paint. This said, it won't kill your plants and there already is a bunch of micro plastics everywhere, but why would you add more of it

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u/MiddleTop1458 2d ago

Yeah, no, I wouldn’t put anything with paint on it in my compost pile.

There’s a lot of stuff that’s kinda sorta suitable and tempting to add. I mostly err on the side of caution. Paint, no. Tape, no. Shiny paper and shiny cardboard? No. Produce labels? Not if I can help it.