CAN I COMPOST IT?
You can compost just about anything, anywhere. Consult the table below if you have any questions about whether you can (or should) compost a material. Click table headers to re-order the list by that field, and use the browser search function (on Windows, Control-F; on Mac, Command-F) to find individual items.
| Material | Can I Compost? | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Banana skins | Yes | |
| Bird cage "waste" | Yes | |
| Bone meal | Yes | |
| Bread | Yes | |
| Cereal | Yes | |
| Citrus (e.g., oranges, grapefruit, lemons, tangerines) | Yes | Green/nitrogen - must cut in half or quarter before composting; mix with browns & add 6-inch layer of browns on top |
| Coffee grounds (with paper filter) | Yes | Green/nitrogen |
| Corn cobs | Yes | |
| Cornmeal | Yes | |
| Cottonseed meal | Yes | |
| Crop waste | Yes | |
| Egg shells | Yes | Adds calcium |
| Feathers | Yes | |
| Fish scraps (buried) | Yes | |
| Flour | Yes | |
| Flowers | Yes | |
| Fruits & vegetables | Yes | |
| Fruits & vegetables, rotten | Yes | Green/nitrogen - may compact due to wetness; add with dry bulky brown/carbon items |
| Grains | Yes | |
| Grass clippings | Yes | Green/nitrogen - may compact add with bulky items |
| Ground bones | Yes | |
| Hair (human, animal) | Yes | Green/nitrogen - may be slow to degrade |
| Hardwood, shredded | Yes | |
| Hay | Yes | |
| Insects, dead | Yes | |
| Kitchen scraps | Yes | |
| Landscape trimmings (cut to sizes less than 2") | Yes | Brown/carbon - good source of bulky items |
| Leather | Yes | |
| Leaves | Yes | Brown/carbon |
| Manures | Yes | |
| Natural fibers (cotton, linen, wool) | Yes | |
| Newspaper | Yes | Brown/carbon - must shred it before composting |
| Oatmeal | Yes | |
| Paper/cardboard | Yes | |
| Paperboard (e.g., cereal boxes, paper plates, and napkins) | Yes | Brown/carbon - break into small pieces, or make a wet slurry and turn it (mix) into the compost |
| Peanut shells | Yes | |
| Pine needles | Yes | |
| Potato peels | Yes | |
| Potting soil/mix | Yes | |
| Powdered milk | Yes | |
| Rice | Yes | |
| Rock powder (greensand, granite dust) | Yes | |
| Sawdust (from un-treated wood) | Yes | Brown/carbon - very high in carbon |
| Seashells (crushed) | Yes | |
| Seaweed | Yes | |
| Seed packets | Yes | |
| Straw | Yes | Brown/carbon - good source of bulky items |
| Tea bags | Yes | Green/nitrogen |
| Tobacco | Yes | |
| Vacuum bag wastes | Yes | |
| Watermelon rind | Yes | |
| Weeds (most, but not all) | Yes | |
| Paper, wet | Yes | Brown/carbon - break into small pieces, or make a wet slurry and turn it (mix) into the compost |
| Wood chips/pieces/shavings (from un-treated wood) | Yes | Brown/carbon - good source of bulky items |
| Yard waste | Yes | |
| Banana leaves | Maybe | Very tough to break down, must cut into small pieces to compost |
| Brush, large woody | Maybe | Use your judgment |
| Feces, dog | Maybe | Composting dog waste must be done with caution |
| Feces, herbivore (e.g., horse, cow, rabbit droppings) | Maybe | Green/nitrogen - DO NOT USE IF ANIMAL IS SICK |
| Fish waste (if buried deeply) | Maybe | Use your judgment |
| Palm fronds | Maybe | Very tough to break down, must cut into small pieces to compost, try drying first, then chipping |
| Plants, diseased | Maybe | Use your judgment |
| Weed seedheads | Maybe | Use your judgment |
| Wood ash | Maybe | Use your judgment |
| Animal by-products (e.g., meat, chicken, lard, bones, cheese or milk products) | No | This type of kitchen waste can attract vermin |
| Bones, unground | No | |
| Cat litter (used) | No | |
| Chemicals (e.g., pesticides, gasoline, diesel, or oil) | No | Potentially toxic to human health and the environment |
| Colored newsprint | No | |
| Dairy products | No | |
| Fat, cooking | No | |
| Feces, cat | No | |
| Feces, human | No | Might contain diseases that could be transmitted to humans |
| Feces, non-herbivore (not dog or bird) | No | Might contain diseases that could be transmitted to humans |
| Grease, cooking | No | |
| Heavily colored paper | No | |
| Inorganic trash such as plastic, foil or metals. | No | Will not break down in the compost process, instead recycle these materials |
| Mayonnaise | No | Hard to degrade |
| Meat | No | |
| Non-organics | No | |
| Oil, cooking | No | |
| Particle board | No | |
| Peanut butter | No | Hard to degrade |
| Plywood | No | |
| Poultry | No | |
| Salad dressing | No | Hard to degrade |
| Sawdust, treated | No | |
| Wood, pressure-treated | No | |
| Wood, treated | No |
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