I printed out a page of gemara from my printer but I don't need it anymore. Does it need to be put in Shaimos or can I put it in the garbage?
Answer:
The Taz (271:8) writes that one may not be lenient concerning the kedushah of printed material (the Mishnah Berurah 40:4 writes that the Chavas Ya'ir is lenient under extenuating circumstances).
Although the printing press the Taz knew is very different from printers today, poskim are still stringent concerning our printed material, and require genizah.
However, this applies specifically to materials that were printed for the purpose of studying Torah from. If the material was printed for some other purpose, there is room for leniency (Netziv, Meishiv Davar 2:80; Shut Ein Yitzchak 5-9, though he writes that one should preferably use a non-Jewish child to burn the materials; Achiezer, Yoreh De'ah 48 permits discarding by means of a non-Jew; Avnei Nezer Yoreh De'ah 376 writes that the material only has kedushah after it has been studied from; Tzitz Eliezer 3:1; however, others are more stringent: Mor U-Ketziah 154; Sedeh Chemed, Be'er Besadi letter 8, 12; and others).
If the material is discarded without genizah, it should be placed in a separate non-see-through bag, to avoid degradation of the material.
