can you compost catalogs?
No — catalogs are the same coated glossy stock as magazines, so send them to recycling rather than the pile.
which bins can take it?
- hot pile no
- cold pile no
- worm bin no
- bokashi no
- tumbler no
- curbside no
why?
Catalog paper is engineered to resist moisture so the ink sits crisp on the surface, and the very property that keeps pages bright keeps compost microbes out. Soaked catalog pages weld into anaerobic bricks you can still leaf apart a year later, and thick perfect-bound spines add hot-melt plastic glue to the mix.
watch out for
- Perfect-bound spines use hot-melt plastic glue — recycling mills screen it out, compost piles can't.
what to do instead
Recycle catalogs curbside after removing any plastic mailing sleeve, and cut the volume at the source by opting out through CatalogChoice or the DMA's mail-preference service.
often confused with
- Phone books — Phone books are uncoated newsprint and actually compost — the glossy catalog is the one that doesn't.
quick answers
Why can catalogs be recycled but not composted?
Recycling mills pulp the pages in water and mechanically wash away clay and ink, a process compost microbes can't replicate. Composting needs biological access to bare fiber, and the coating denies it.
Can I compost a catalog if I shred it first?
Shredding exposes edges but doesn't remove the coating — a hot pile digests some of it, and you'll still screen slick confetti out of the finished batch. Recycling is less work and a better use of the fiber.