Composting Cardboard

So other than burn it, take it to the tip, or put it out to be recycled, what can you do with it? Well, one solution we can offer is 'gerbil power'! So how does it work?

Cardboard can be composted, but it only works well when broken into small pieces or 'flakes'. Breaking cardboard up by hand would be extremely hard work. Instead give the task to your pet gerbils; they're super-efficient cardboard processors. Give them some cardboard and they will be as happy as Larry.

Toilet roll tubes will be turned into cardboard shrapnel and become totally unrecognisable in under ten minutes. In fact without cardboard you will have bored and listless pets on your hands. Gerbils love to make nests out of the cardboard boxes, until they get destroyed, and will even use the resulting cardboard flakes to bury their food bowl; this appears to be something that's instinctive. And we can honestly say that our gerbils are happy and contented and do not feel in the least bit exploited.

So what do we do with the cardboard flakes? Well, we mix them up with our vegetable peelings and other waste matter, and then put it all into our compost bin. And it works a treat! We would caution that you shouldn't overdo the cardboard in the compost bin, as it can make everything dry and then the composting action will stop. I mention this particularly because the quantity of cardboard flakes that can be produced by two gerbils in a week say, is really quite staggering.