Getting started with composting can be intimidating. However, in practice, composting basics are quite simple. You set up a heap or a bin, add a variety of plant-based scraps, and let the magic happen!
In this guide, we’re focusing on what materials not to add. These include items that break down too slowly, attract pests, or introduce contamination hazards.
Choosing What to Compost
When you’re getting started with backyard composting, it’s best to stick with materials that break down rapidly with no complications. Your pile should contain a mix of nitrogen-rich greens (such as fruit and veggie scraps) and carbon-rich browns (such as dried leaves and cardboard).
Your compost pile shouldn’t contain manufactured products, harmful chemicals, or materials that don’t come from plants.
Some of the items listed below (such as cigarette butts) should never be composted. Others, such as avocado pits, are compostable—they just require a bit more effort or time.
If you’re new to composting, or if you prefer a no-hassle process, here are nine items you shouldn’t add to your compost heap.
1. Remove Produce Stickers Before Composting
The small stickers that come on grocery store produce are made from various non-biodegradable, non-recyclable materials. Compostable stickers exist, but they’re not common. Standard stickers don’t break down at all in the time it takes for other materials to form compost.
If you compost banana peels and other produce skins, form a habit of removing stickers before tossing the scraps. Otherwise, when it’s time to use your finished product, you’ll be stuck picking those grimy little stickers out of your soil.
2. Keep Meat, Bones, and Dairy Out of the Compost Pile
Most people who practice home composting choose to completely avoid all meat, bones, and dairy waste.
Complications with animal-based food scraps include:
- Bones decompose very slowly.
- Dairy fat can slow down the composting process.
- Meat and dairy waste may attract animals like dogs, rats, coyotes, and bears.
- Meat and dairy waste may spread diseases or parasites to wildlife.
If you’re ambitious about composting as much as possible, then there are strategies for incorporating these materials. For example, bokashi is a fermentation process that makes it easier to quickly compost a wider variety of scraps. However, if you want to keep things simple, completely avoid animal-based materials (with clean egg shells being the notable exception).
3. “Compostable” Plastic and Packaging
Commercial packaging and other products labeled “compostable” are usually not suitable for home composting systems. The “compostable” label is not highly regulated in most places. Thus, items with this label may break down very slowly or may require specific conditions for composting. Unless you can verify that a piece of compostable plastic or packaging will break down in your pile, don’t add it.
4. Most Glossy Paper Does Not Compost Well
Paper is compostable. However, many paper products are coated in non-compostable coatings made from plastic or wax. This can include many types of gift wrap and printed gift bags.
Ideal paper products for composting include:
- Corrugated cardboard
- Cardboard toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes
- Cardboard egg cartons
- Paper napkins or paper towels (as long as they aren’t contaminated by any non-compostable materials)
If your compost pile lacks brown materials, then these paper products are helpful carbon-rich ingredients to add. Other paper products should be avoided. If your pile already contains plenty of browns (such as dead leaves), then you might achieve the best environmental outcome by recycling all your paper waste.
5. It’s Best to Keep Pet Waste Out of the Compost Bin
Most commercial kitty litter is not compostable. Animal droppings are compostable, but they’re a health hazard if the compost they form ends up in your veggie garden.
Pet waste can also transfer medicines that can kill your compost pile’s worms. If you want to compost pet waste, do your research and choose a safe method. Otherwise, keep these materials out of your compost bin.
6. Cigarette Butts don’t Belong in Your Compost
Tobacco is a plant, so you may be tempted to toss cigarette butts into your compost pile. Unfortunately, cigarettes are loaded with toxic chemicals. Plus, cigarette filters contain plastic. Therefore, cigarettes shouldn’t be composted, with no exceptions.
7. Invasive Weeds Can Cause Compost Problems Later
If you remove weeds that you don’t want spreading on your property or elsewhere, don’t compost them. This composting basics recommendation applies to any invasive weed, as well as toxic plants such as poison ivy. Weeds are resilient, and their seeds can spread during or after the composting process.
Secure methods for composting weeds involve high heat or preliminary steps to kill the seeds. For low-effort composters, it’s wiser to safely dispose of invasive weeds, rather than adding them to your bin.
8. Fire Ash is Best Discarded
Ashes from barbecues, firepits, or fireplaces may contain toxic chemicals. They can also spike a compost pile’s pH level, thus killing off helpful microbes.
In small quantities, ashes can be a helpful material to add to compost piles or garden beds. However, it’s important to carefully follow guidelines for the type of ash you’re using. If you’d rather play it safe, simply dispose of ashes as a garbage product rather than adding them to your compost. Make sure ashes are completely cool before adding to your garbage to avoid fire hazards.
9. Composting Avocado Pits and Other Extremely Dense Plant Scraps
Certain plant-based scraps are so dense and fibrous that they break down very slowly. These include avocado pits, corn cobs, melon rinds, and nut shells. These items are okay if you don’t mind their slow pace, or if you break them apart to speed up decomposition. However, if you want to keep things simple, then avoid adding these dense scraps to your pile.
More Ideas for Hassle-Free Composting Basics
Composting doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it can be as simple as burying food scraps in shallow holes and letting nature take over. Learn more about this easy, alternative way to reduce food waste and improve soil in our Guide to Direct Composting.
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