# Are the inks in credit card applications and such safe for my garden?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-inks-in-credit-card-applications-and-such-safe-for-my-garden/348673>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 17, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-inks-in-credit-card-applications-and-such-safe-for-my-garden/348673 "2006-03-17T00:07:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-inks-in-credit-card-applications-and-such-safe-for-my-garden/348673/1 "2006-03-17T00:07:24Z")

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As I don’t get the newspaper, but could use some ugly mulch for my vegetable garden, I was wondering if the inks commonly used in junk mail (not the glossy stuff, just the letters and the “free money” checks) are safe to mulch my garden with. I know newspapers have largely gone to soy ink, which is safe, but I don’t know about the stuff that comes in the mail. I’d be taking the plastic and glossy bits out. Does anybody know?

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**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-inks-in-credit-card-applications-and-such-safe-for-my-garden/348673/2 "2006-03-17T00:27:16Z")

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As I’ve always understood it, it was not the base of the ink (petroleum vs. soy) that was the problem in vegetable gardens, but the chemicals used as pigments. I’ve read often that B&W newspaper was okay for the compost pile and mulching but colored sections were not. I imagine this would not change since the advent of vegetable oils as the ink base.

As far as junk mail goes, I’d stick to black and white with that, too.