Federal regulation on use of the term “organic” only applies to food and fiber products and production systems, where it means grown or raised without the use of synthetic chemicals. All compost is “organic”, in that it is the process of cobtrolled decomposition of organic materials. In this case the term “organic” means “derived from once-living organisms”. So anyone can call their compost organic. However, to sell to certified organic farms your compost would have to be approved by the agency that certifies the farm or by an indepent organization such as OMRI, the Organic Materials Review Institute.

Any kind of paper may be composted. In a home composting situation you should shred or tear it first. Generally it is better to recycle paper if that is an option, as that is a reduces the need for producing virgin paper.

Research has shown that maintaining tempertures over 131 F for several weeks with multiple turnings during that time will eliminate almost all weeds (if you are handling feedstocks with human pathogen potential, like manure, post-consumer food scraps or biosolids, you are required to maintaing that temp for two weeks with 5 turnings duing that time). However, the only way to keep the compost weedfree is to cover the compost with a breathable fabric before it finished cooling off.