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Can I Compost Toilet roll tubes?

(From the Household waste category | 6 comments - join the conversation)

toilet-roll-tubeYes, toilet roll tubes – the cardboard middle from loo roll – can be composted, in fact they’re a great addition to a compost heap.

They can soak up excess water and the structure helps aerate dense compost heaps.

If you want them to compost down quicker, tear them into smaller pieces or soak them in water before you add them.

Other similar cardboard tubes – like kitchen roll tubes – can be composted too but avoid any that have come into contact with forbidden food stuffs (like fats) or excessive chemicals (including detergents or perfumes).


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6 Comments

  1. Would “fats” include plant based fats like avacado or peanut butter? (Sorry I’m new)

    • Avocado ‘fat’ on kitchen roll should be alright but I probably wouldn’t put peanut butter in even though it is uncooked. The oil would take a long time to break down and I would worry it would attract vermin.

    • Yes, peanuts, avocados and especially “fatties” as these are also very well known for being detrimental to the environment.

  2. What about the glue that holds the holders together, wouldn’t that be absorbed into the Compost?

  3. Were all of us to be concerned about utilizing whatever is possible, rather than add it all to the ‘nuisance litter’ this planet would have been a better place to be in. Reuse, recycle, reduce wastage–this should be our environment motto. Let us not wait for the other folks to do it. Instead, let each of us be the PIONEER and the PILOT.

  4. I have an allotment which i am really into and take great pride in growing stuff organically. Earlier this year i started my parsnips off in cardboard toilet tubes, which from all accounts are bio-degradable, planted them out and let nature take it’s course. This weekend i dug up some of my prized veg and was absolutely horrified to find that the cardboard tubes had degraded into the soil OK, BUT they had left a plastic layer around where the tube once were. My question is how come these toilet tubes are supposedly bio-degradable but part of the manufacturing process includes plastic, which has now contaminated my soil!!!! Not happy!

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