What Can You Compost? The Complete Guide

Honestly, "can I compost this?" is the question I get asked more than anything else, and I get why. The answer depends on your setup, and nobody wants to be the person who ruins a whole bin over one questionable avocado pit. So here's the most complete guide I could put together on what you can compost, sorted by category so you can stop Googling the same thing over and over.

Kitchen Scraps: Yes to Almost All of These

Your everyday kitchen scraps are the backbone of any compost pile, and the good news is most of them are fair game in any system.

• Vegetable peels, trimmings, and scraps
• Fruit skins, cores, and pits
• Coffee grounds and paper filters
• Loose leaf tea and plastic-free tea bags
• Crushed eggshells
• Stale bread, crackers, and plain cooked grains
• Nut shells (skip walnut, which can inhibit plants)

Chop the bigger, tougher items so they break down faster. A whole corncob will sit in your pile for the better part of a year, but a chopped one disappears in weeks.

Yard and Paper: Your Browns

Compost needs a balance of nitrogen-rich "greens" (your food scraps) and carbon-rich "browns." Browns keep the pile from turning into a slimy, smelly mess, so keep a stash handy.

• Dry leaves and small twigs
• Shredded cardboard and paper (no glossy coatings)
• Plain paper towels and napkins
• Sawdust from untreated wood
• Straw and dried grass clippings

The single fix for almost every compost problem is more browns. Too wet, too smelly, too many flies? Bury the pile in shredded leaves or cardboard and it usually sorts itself out within a day or two.

The "It Depends on Your System" List

This is where people trip up. Some materials are fine in one setup and a disaster in another.

Backyard Pile

Stick to plant matter, and leave out anything greasy or animal-based. Meat, dairy, and oily leftovers attract pests and go rancid before they break down.

Worm Bin

Worms are picky eaters. They love soft fruit and vegetable scraps but hate citrus, onion, garlic, and spicy foods, which irritate them. Feed in small amounts and let them catch up.

Bokashi Bucket

This is the workhorse for tricky stuff. Because Bokashi ferments rather than rots, it can handle meat, dairy, and cooked leftovers that would wreck a backyard pile.

What to Keep Out

A few things genuinely don't belong in home compost, no matter your setup:

• Meat, fish, and bones (unless you're running Bokashi)
• Dairy and greasy or oily foods
• Pet waste from dogs and cats
• Diseased plants or weeds gone to seed
• Anything labeled "compostable" plastic, which usually needs an industrial facility
• Coated or glossy paper and stickers on produce

Those produce stickers are sneaky. They're plastic, they don't break down, and they end up as little confetti scattered through your finished compost.

Building Good Habits

Keep a small lidded bin on your counter and empty it every couple of days. Layer greens and browns roughly two-to-one by volume, keep the pile as damp as a wrung-out sponge, and give it a turn now and then for air.

Do that, and within a few months you'll have dark, crumbly compost your garden will genuinely love. The list of what you can compost is long, but the rhythm is simple once it becomes routine.