Shred Unwanted Mail to Prevent Identity Theft
Wednesday July 2, 2008
The Summer months can encourage a lot of junk mail and increase your risk
of identity theft. Keep yourself protected by shredding unwanted mail.
Photo Courtesy of Steve Woods / Stock.xchng. Used with Permission.
Comments
Why is this article in the Gardening section?
Good question. As I mentioned in the other blog posted today, About.com’s Home & Garden channel is featuring Summer Safety and the Guides across the channel have decided to share tips with each other’s readers. So just for today, we’re stepping out of the garden.
Ok, good advice. But why the garden section?
I know why this is in the gardening section. When you are finished shredding to put it all in your compost. End of junk mail..
I thought about using my shredded mail as mulch or compost but decided against it. Many envelopes have plastic address windows that would not compost or degrade. Also there are certain papers and inks that I don’t think would be good for the soil. What do you think about this Marie?
I do agree with you, Ron, about the envelopes and the inks and paper, especially glossy type papers, such as magazines, but I just rip off small portions with names and addresses, even the order forms get shredded.
I thought about using paper in my compost when I first got a shredder. I figured this is the stuff they recommend for worm composting, so it must be OK. But it’s so hard to find a definite answer about these things because it doesn’t seem like anyone really knows what goes on paper. I know glossies and full color flyers are no good. Then someone told me that newspaper is chemically bleached and it shouldn’t be composted. So I just bundle up everything and take it to the recycling center. God only knows what they do with it.
If anyone knows of a good source of information on this, I’d love to hear.
I look on the Organic Gardening web site under Soil…I found out quite a lot on compost ingredients including certain types of paper. http://www.organicgardening.com
Under their “No-no” list they have “Paper, especially glossy paper, printed with colored ink, may contain heavy metals. Black-and-white newspaper is safe.” And a little further down they recommend using b&w newspaper for mulching, rather than composting, and recycling office paper. It’s a good list. Thanks, Jane.