One question that is often asked on the worm forums is whether you can use shredded office paper as bedding. You can, but…
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons.
Pros: Shredded office paper is a readily available compostable carbon source.
Cons: Shredded office paper clumps badly, and the clumps can become a mucky mess in the bin. You need to mix it with another bedding source to avoid the clumps.
Office paper does not have much nutritional value for microbes, worms or plants, so it makes poor quality castings.
Shredded office paper does not hold moisture as well as other types of bedding.
Office paper is bleached. Many people are concerned that bleached office paper may have residual chemicals in it from the bleaching process.
And the biggest con: laser printer toner is powdered plastic, so using office paper that has been laser printed will put micro plastics into your castings.
In the past, I have used a small amount of shredded office paper in my bedding mix. I figured that recycling it through my worms was better than tossing it in the trash. But, because of the micro plastics in laser printed paper, I have decided to stop using it.