Step 4 - Composting
What to Put in a Compost Bin
The lists are short. The interesting part is the handful of items almost everyone gets wrong.
Janet H. - the hands-on owner behind Janet Media Group.
Published - last updated
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Fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells, dry leaves, cardboard, straw and soft garden waste all go in. Meat, fish, dairy, oils, cooked food, pet waste and diseased plants stay out. Everything else is a judgment call, and the ones worth explaining are below.
What goes in
| Greens (nitrogen) | Browns (carbon) |
|---|---|
| Fruit and vegetable peelings and cores | Dry fallen leaves |
| Coffee grounds and paper filters | Cardboard, torn into pieces |
| Tea leaves | Newspaper and plain paper, shredded |
| Fresh grass clippings, in thin layers | Straw and hay |
| Soft green prunings | Small twigs and woody prunings |
| Spent plants at season's end | Sawdust from untreated wood |
| Crushed eggshells | Used potting soil |
What stays out
- Meat, fish, bones. Home piles do not reach or hold the temperature needed, and they attract rodents.
- Dairy and oils. Same reasons, plus they go rancid and coat other material.
- Cooked food. Generally contains fat and salt, and it is the most reliable way to attract pests.
- Cat and dog waste. Pathogen risk on anything you then grow food in.
- Diseased plant material. A home pile will not reliably kill the pathogen, so you are storing it for later.
- Weeds that have set seed. Unless your pile genuinely heats, you are planting them back into your beds next spring.
- Coal ash, treated or painted wood, glossy printed paper. Unknown chemistry you do not want in a food bed.
The items people get wrong
Citrus and onion -- fine in a normal bin
Both compost perfectly well in an ordinary pile. The caution people have heard applies to worm bins, where large amounts of acidic or pungent material are hard on the worms. In a regular bin, add them freely.
Eggshells -- add them, but do not expect much
They break down extremely slowly and you will still see fragments in finished compost. They add a little calcium over a long time. Crushing them finely helps. They are not a fix for blossom end rot, which is a watering problem rather than a soil calcium problem.
Compostable packaging -- usually not
Most certified compostable plastics require industrial composting temperatures, which a home bin does not reach. That is why people find them intact months later. Paper-based packaging with no plastic coating is fine.
Bread and pasta -- technically yes, practically no
They break down readily, and they are also excellent rodent bait. In an enclosed tumbler they are manageable; in an open bin they are asking for trouble.
Weeds -- depends entirely on the seed
Leafy weeds pulled before flowering are just greens. Anything carrying seed, or a perennial root that regrows from a fragment -- bindweed, couch grass -- should go in the trash or be drowned in a bucket of water for several weeks first.
For running the pile once it is filled, see how to use a compost bin, and composting for beginners for the ratio.
What to buy
The products that fit the advice above, chosen by the process on our how we choose page. We have not hands-on tested them; specifications are the manufacturers’ own.
Quick picks
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Top pickOXO Good Grips Easy-Clean Compost BinSmall lidded pail, smooth-walled for rinsing | The counter caddy | 8.3 | Check price on Amazon |
| 2 |  GEOBIN Expandable Compost BinExpands to roughly 216 gal, 36 in tall | Leaves and yard waste | 8.7 | Check price on Amazon |
| 3 |  FCMP Outdoor IM4000 Tumbling ComposterDual chamber, roughly 37 gal total | Most backyards | 9.1 | Check price on Amazon |
#ad We may earn a commission - prices are shown by Amazon, not by us
Scores are our own editorial judgment, formed from published specifications and independent sources. They are not aggregated customer ratings, and they are not the result of hands-on testing, which we do not currently do. See how we choose.
Common questions
Can you put citrus in compost?
Yes, in a normal compost bin -- citrus breaks down perfectly well. The warning people have heard applies to worm bins, where large amounts of acidic or pungent material are hard on the worms. The same is true of onion.
Can you compost bread and pasta?
They break down readily, but they are excellent rodent bait. In a sealed tumbler that is manageable; in an open bin it is asking for trouble. Most home composting guidance advises leaving cooked food out for that reason.
Do eggshells break down in compost?
Very slowly -- you will still see fragments in finished compost. They add a small amount of calcium over a long period. Crush them finely if you want them to disappear faster. They are not a remedy for blossom end rot, which is caused by inconsistent watering.
Can you compost weeds?
Leafy weeds pulled before they flower are simply green material. Anything that has set seed, or a perennial that regrows from root fragments like bindweed or couch grass, should go in the trash unless your pile genuinely heats -- otherwise you are replanting them.
Sources
Factual claims on this page are backed by the published sources below, and product specifications are the manufacturers’ own. Where a figure is not published, we say so rather than estimating it.