flowerbug
Garden Master
i now reject everything with a shiny finish and put that in recycling at the curb. a little bit of colored ink is unlikely to be a major issue, but over many years if it is some type of strange metal compound or whatever is being used to get that color i sure don't want it to build up in garden soil. black ink i don't worry about, likely carbon only.
i tend to use newspapers like i use cardboard, in layers to smother things or i put it down under cardboard for a second layer to smother. it's gone after a year or two. i used to shred it, but the shredder doesn't like too much of it all at once so i just use it whole instead. i don't like using it in the worm bins because it smells when it gets wet.
the problem with the plastic coating is that i shred the stuff so it turns from one piece into thousands and i didn't always catch it and only found it later after all the paper had been digested off it and i'm left with little strips of plastic in the worm bins. they do not ingest it.
now, a funny thing i noticed. worms will suck the inks off pictures like seed or flower catalogs. maybe it tastes like a salt or spice to them? dunno.
