Yesterday’s News, New Year’s Resolution
December 30th, 2005
While resolutions are cliche and usually fail, I’m resolving to learn more about how the stuff I interact with is made. Vestal Design has a pet mascot of sorts, Motor, a dwarf rabbit pictured above. We’ve been using a product called Yesterday’s News, an absorbant litter made from recycled newspaper. I’ve been happily using it for over a year now, but the other day I wondered if composting Motor’s droppings for our garden with the recycled newspaper was a good idea or not. That led to questions such as:
“Where does the newspaper come from?” “Is the newspaper post-consumer or scrap from the printing press?” “Does the product contain ink that’s bad for the compost?” “What is newspaper ink made of?” “Is this stuff really as good as I thought it was?”So, I called up Purina, the manufacturer, yesterday and the helpful customer service rep tried her best to answer my questions. Sadly, after hunting around for a while, she said that she’d have to forward my reqeust on to the corporate office and that I should hear back by Wednesday next week. Stay tuned for answers…
New Mexico State Univ Bunny Poo Research
More Bunny Poo Composting Research
Thank you all for checking in this past year! We at Vestal would like to wish you all a safe and happy New Year!
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January 1st, 2006 at 10:47 pm
I would also like to interject that when we first brought Motor home, the pet shop gave us kitty litter with pine shavings in it which we later found out was bad for bunnies’ livers.
Somewhat upset, we ended up calling our pet shop to let them know what we found. I remember being amazed that people selling these products had no clue what they were made of, let alone think that not knowing this could cause harm.
January 3rd, 2006 at 5:31 pm
It’s Tuesday, Jan 3rd and I just received a call back from Malarie, a representative from Purina. She was extremely helpful when I called a few days ago and even responded a day early!
I learned that the material used in Yesterday’s News is collected from paper recycling processors and that the material consists of post consumer newspaper, magazines and other paper. However, she wasn’t able to say if they use scrap from printing presses or the percentage of post-consumer recycled content. She did assure me that the product is safe to use in compost and that the ink is not a concern. (I’m still curious about this…) However, I should note that Malarie also cautioned that if the litter is used for cats and that the compost is intended for food crops that these is a risk of toxoplasmosis being trasmitted via cat feces.
I also learned that the product is made in the USA and she’s forwarded my inquiry along to the corporate office for further attention. The goal now is to author a How Stuff is Made entry on it!
January 3rd, 2006 at 9:06 pm
the new How Stuff is Made site.
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:03 am
I’d like to point out that that Malarie said magazines were included in the recycled material used for “Yesterday’s News”. The ink in magazines and other colored inserts is not safe for composting or Bunnies if consumed, which they usually don’t. However, How much is inhaled or absorbed?
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
I was wanting to know if it is okay to use my newspaapers in my flower beds. I’ve read in several things that professional landscapers are using the paper or cardboard and it works very well. My concern was if the ink is bad for the plants or anything else. Please let me know. Thanks