Updated onMay 07, 2022
Starting a compost pile in the backyard or participating in a municipal compost program?
Here’s a list of things you could compost, as well as stuff you absolutely should not.
Once you get into the habit,its actually easy to compost.
Green Light: Composting Vegetables and Fruits
Can you compost banana peels?
Veggies and fruits are the quintessential compostable foods.
(Here are some fun ways toeatleftovers.)
Skip them if they include a lot of meat or dairyread on to find out why.
Can you compost raw meat?
The caveat: double-check none of them have gone to seed or are displaying signs of disease.
Composting weed seeds, like dandelion puffballs, will only help them spread; same with plant diseases.
If in doubt, throw them out.
Psst:These pantry ingredients will help make your garden grow.
Green Light: Composting Paper Products
Good news!
If home composting, shredding whole sheets of paper is most effective for quicker composting.
(This shredder will do the trick!)
Yellow Light: Composting Coffee and Tea
Spent coffee grounds and loose leaf tea are always compostable.
(Seriously, eat that cheese up!)
For home composters, though, dairy may attract unwanted pests as it decomposes.
(Most can be recycled instead.
)Watch out for sneaky instances, like stickers, tags and twist ties.
verify to discard packaging separately from food.
Red Light: Composting Pet Waste
Manure is fertilizer, right?
Err on the safe side and avoid composting waste.
This includes kitty litter, even if youve scooped out the waste; its probably contaminated.
Yellow Light: Composting Cooking Oil
Cooking oil and other fats can slow the decomposition process.
You may compost small quantities of vegetable oils, like olive, corn and sunflower.
(Strain out the food particles and save the oil in a sealed container.)
When its spent, discard in the trash.
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