Is burning newspaper a bad idea?

Question

I'm looking for environmentally friendly ways to have campfires. I work at a resort on the beach, where I receive numerous requests for firewood, tinder, and such materials. I have wondered whether or not burning newspaper is a good idea.

I was thinking that, so long as the emissions from burning newspaper were not toxic (Or at least no more toxic than burning wood), I could compress old newspapers (We receive bundles of them daily) into brickettes for burning.

A product I've seen is here: http://www.taylorgifts.com/prodetail~itemNo~27931.asp

Answer 1

paper is essentially trees(the pulp) so the only thing that would be of any harm(if any) is the ink. so that would be okay.

Answer 2

Historically, paper was bleached with chlorine, so burning might create dioxins, etc, but not much.  Since you are by he ocean, the most likely source of chlorine would be the ocean water which is loaded with it (as a constiuent of salt).  But all that is history.  Now the paper is bleached with peroxide.

The ink is just fine.  

We used to roll it into log shapes and then wrap it with twist ties.

If you do that, you also burn the twist tie, so you might think about what comes out of that, but it is so tiny, it really wont have an impact.

Answer 3

The other thing to take into consideration is the energy required to shred and compress the newsprint. Another possibility is the combustion products of the non-water-soluble components of both the newsprint and the ink. Perhaps a third factor might be the amount of particulates produced from burning newsprint vs those from an equivalent amount of wood. As paper has a relatively low high-heat-value, I suspect that the particulate emission might be relatively high, compared to wood fires.

Answer 4

It's better for the fire because paper keeps the oxygen inside the fire.  

Answer 5

lol no it doesnt really hurt anything i burn mine cause the garbage truck never comes around