Shredded Junk Mail Mulch

[Matt Ocel]

Is this a good or bad Idea for my vegies.

[curtis rosche]

it might blow away, i dont know if it would do any good before it rotted. i dont know if ink would make it acidic or not

[Joe Pelonio]

Our local master gardener has suggested that junk mail and newspaper be used for mulch, but cautions that you should not use glossy or colored paper. It may have ink that contains heavy metals, so you have to sort it out, which means opening the envelopes.

[Matt Ocel]

Our local master gardener has suggested that junk mail and newspaper be used for mulch, but cautions that you should not use glossy or colored paper. It may have ink that contains heavy metals, so you have to sort it out, which means opening the envelopes.


Thanks Joe

I was afraid of that. I get so many of those credit appls. and I don't open them, they go straight to the shredder.

[Doug Shepard]

I dont know if thiswould still work or if mail rule changes would let this work. Despite my insistence that all she was doing was to help keep postage rates increasing, for decades my mother used to write REFUSED/Return To Sender on the junk and stick it back in the mailbox with the flag up. I have no idea whether this stuff just went into the trash at the post office or if it actally got back to the sender with postage-due charges on the other end.

[Joe Pelonio]

I dont know if thiswould still work or if mail rule changes would let this work. Despite my insistence that all she was doing was to help keep postage rates increasing, for decades my mother used to write REFUSED/Return To Sender on the junk and stick it back in the mailbox with the flag up. I have no idea whether this stuff just went into the trash at the post office or if it actally got back to the sender with postage-due charges on the other end.
If you can afford the time and postage and want to have some fun, I knew a guy that hated junk mail badly. Once a week, he would mail 3-4 of them in a larger envelope to the return address of one of the others.

[Justin Leiwig]

If you start a compost pile and use it in the compost pile you won't have any problems with it after a year or two.

[Roger Ronas]

If they contain a business reply(postage paid) envelope, I have taped it to a box with all kinds of garbage in it and send it back to them. It's legal and Po will accept up to a 70 lb box for this.
Also seen this on Andy Rooney before.

RCR

[Ed Bamba]

I dont know if thiswould still work or if mail rule changes would let this work. Despite my insistence that all she was doing was to help keep postage rates increasing, for decades my mother used to write REFUSED/Return To Sender on the junk and stick it back in the mailbox with the flag up. I have no idea whether this stuff just went into the trash at the post office or if it actally got back to the sender with postage-due charges on the other end.

Doug, the only mail that gets returned to sender is First Class Mail, or mail that has "Return Service Requested", "Forwarding Service Requested", or "Electronic Service Requested" printed on the item. Everyting else gets placed in an "Undeliverable Bulk Business Mail" bin back at the Station. Not sure what happens to it after that, probably gets sent to the recycler, or gets destroyed. You're probably correct in your assumption that it is adding to the postage rates since we have to take the additional time to bring it back and properly dispose of them. The Postal Service loves bulk mail; it's where most of their income is derived from. You would be amazed how much bulk/junk mail goes through the system.

[David Freed]

If they contain a business reply(postage paid) envelope, I have taped it to a box with all kinds of garbage in it and send it back to them. It's legal and Po will accept up to a 70 lb box for this.
Also seen this on Andy Rooney before.

RCR

I like that idea.

[Bill Cunningham]

Don't see why the majority of it can't be used as fertilizer! It's mostly manure anyway:mad: I used to have rubber stamps for sale that had a finger pointing to the return address, and a line that read "This is junk mail, please return to sender"

[Justin Leiwig]

Doug, the only mail that gets returned to sender is First Class Mail, or mail that has "Return Service Requested", "Forwarding Service Requested", or "Electronic Service Requested" printed on the item. Everyting else gets placed in an "Undeliverable Bulk Business Mail" bin back at the Station. Not sure what happens to it after that, probably gets sent to the recycler, or gets destroyed. You're probably correct in your assumption that it is adding to the postage rates since we have to take the additional time to bring it back and properly dispose of them. The Postal Service loves bulk mail; it's where most of their income is derived from. You would be amazed how much bulk/junk mail goes through the system.

On a tangent to this, can someone please explain the logic it takes to take a piece of mail that I've put out. Take it downtown to the post office, to weigh it and determine that it needs 6 more cents to mail it because of weight, only to drive it back out to me and leave it in my mailbox with a note stating this. Can you honestly tell me that it didn't cost taxpayers more than 6 cents worth of gas or employee time.

[Ed Bamba]

On a tangent to this, can someone please explain the logic it takes to take a piece of mail that I've put out. Take it downtown to the post office, to weigh it and determine that it needs 6 more cents to mail it because of weight, only to drive it back out to me and leave it in my mailbox with a note stating this. Can you honestly tell me that it didn't cost taxpayers more than 6 cents worth of gas or employee time.

Justin, I feel your anguish. The Postal Service makes the rules, and we just have to follow them. If you don't pay the addtional postage, the person or company that recieves the item will have to. When an item requires additional postage, or there is postage due, the Carrier signs for it and is responsible for the amount. Most bussiness will not accept postage due, so we are forced to return the item to sender for additonal postage. We are just as embarrased asking for a few pennies from the customer (addressee) as the customer (sender) is when they realize their mistake. At times, we just pay the few pennies it takes and leave notice to the reciever that we personally covered it. Most of the time we get reimburesed more than what was owed, or we get stiffed. In the end, the USPS gets payed.

BTW, we are told that operating cost for the USPS is payed by those who pay for the mailing service. Supposedly no tax-payer money is ever used.