“Can you put stuff like facial tissues, used paper towels etc in the worm bin?” ~ Al
Hi Al – the short answer is YES.
You can definitely add materials like this to your worm bin. In fact they can be really helpful in terms of absorbing moisture and helping to keep the carbon to nitrogen ratio in the bin balanced. That said, I tend to be somewhat more cautious when it comes to white paper and similar products like Kleenex and (white) paper towels.
They can contain some chemicals such as bleach (used to whiten them) that can irritate the worms if enough of the material is present in the bin. Tissues and paper towels can also get pretty sloppy when wet, thus potentially impeding air flow – so you certainly don’t want to add huge amounts to your bin at any one time for that reason as well. Moderation is definitely the key.
Also – while this MAY seem like plain ‘ol common sense to most – I should probably mention the fact that paper towels used with cleaning products or other chemicals should definitely NOT be added to a worm bin!
By the way, if you happen to use the thin, brown paper towels for anything, these are excellent materials for worm bins. They don’t turn to goo, and won’t likely contain any harmful chemicals either. Like brown paper bags, corrugated cardboard etc, the worms will readily consume them.
