Citrus, meat, bread, pet litter, weeds: the compost scraps people disagree about

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Citrus, meat, bread, rabbit litter… Everyone has an opinion on certain scraps, and even reputable sources don't all say the same thing. There is a reason for these differences: a garden composter, a shared community composter and a wormery don't face the same constraints.

Rather than make an arbitrary call, we have compared the recommendations of the main composting guides. Here, case by case, is what they say and the position we recommend.

Citrus: yes, but chopped up

This is probably the most stubborn myth of all. In fact, all citrus peel can be composted in moderate amounts. Some shared composters only refuse citrus "in large quantities", and some composting advisers go as far as calling it an urban legend where ground-based composters are concerned.

Our position: yes in the garden composter, chopped into pieces to speed up decomposition, in the normal quantities of a household. If you squeeze a kilo of oranges every morning, add the peel gradually over time and mix it in well. In a shared composter, follow the site's rules. In a wormery, however, keep citrus to a minimum: the worms aren't keen on it.

Meat, fish, bones

Here, opinions are genuinely divided. Some guides accept meat in small pieces, placed in the centre of the heap out of reach of animals, while advising you to limit it. Others reject it because it attracts rodents, dogs and cats. Maze, the maker of rotating composters, excludes large pieces of meat and bones.

Our position: best avoided in an open heap and in a shared composter. In a well-closed bin, small scraps buried deep in the material are acceptable. Bones, on the other hand, break down very slowly and attract animals: better to leave them out.

Key points

A garden composter doesn't get hot enough to sanitise meat or diseased plants. That is the real reason for these exclusions: not because these scraps don't decompose, but because they attract pests or risk spreading germs and diseases.

Bread, dairy, cooked dishes

Here too, opinions differ. Some guides accept bread, dairy and cheese rinds. Many shared composters refuse them because of smells and animals, and other advice suggests avoiding dairy and cooked dishes in home compost.

Our position: in small quantities, chopped and buried in the centre of the composter, never left on the surface. The odd crust of bread or cheese rind is no problem at all. A whole pan of leftover cream sauce is: fatty waste like this is better suited to bokashi. In a shared composter, the site's rules take precedence.

Pet litter: herbivores yes, cats and dogs no

Rabbit or guinea pig droppings mixed with their straw, hay or wood-shaving bedding make excellent additions: rich in nitrogen and accompanied by dry material. Rabbit droppings in particular go into the compost without any difficulty.

Cat litter and dog or cat faeces, however, must be excluded. These carnivores can pass parasites and diseases on to humans, and home compost doesn't get hot enough to destroy them. Mineral litters (clay, silica) don't compost anyway.

Did you know?

Small herbivore litter makes a very good natural compost "activator": it provides both nitrogen (the droppings) and dry material (the straw or shavings), which is exactly the mix you are after.

Weeds gone to seed and perennial weeds

Young weeds pulled up before flowering are good green material. The problem starts once they carry seeds. It takes around 30 days at 63 °C or more to destroy the seeds of the hardiest species. A home composter almost never reaches these temperatures: the heat escapes too easily.

Our position: yes before they set seed, no afterwards. Perennials that regrow from their roots or rhizomes (couch grass, bindweed, dock…) should also be kept out. Some gardeners first leave them to dry out in the sun for a long time, until they are completely dead, before composting them: only do this if you are sure of the result. Otherwise, you will be replanting them yourself when you spread your compost.

The same caution applies to clippings from a lawn treated with selective weedkiller: they have no place in the compost. Wait at least eight weeks after treatment before using these clippings as mulch; the simplest option is still to leave them on the lawn.

Diseased plants

Tomato leaves affected by blight, roses covered in powdery mildew, fruit mummified by brown rot: don't put them in the composter. Once again, the temperature of home compost isn't enough to eliminate the fungi and bacteria responsible, which could make their way back into the vegetable patch with the compost. Diseased plants are better taken to the recycling centre with the green waste.

The bokashi solution for "forbidden" leftovers

If you don't want to throw anything away, there is a complementary solution for meat, fish, dairy and leftover meals: bokashi. This airtight bucket ferments waste for around three weeks using bran enriched with micro-organisms, Bokashi EM Compost Activator. The result isn't compost yet: it then needs to finish breaking down in a composter or be buried in uncultivated soil. Once fermented, these leftovers generally attract animals less.

To find out all about the method, see our bokashi guide. And if you would rather make your own fermented bran, the Kit for making your own Bokashi & Compost activator contains everything you need.

Willy's tip

For households with rodents in the neighbourhood, a closed, raised rotating composter is harder to get into than an open heap. It doesn't make meat compostable, but it does limit unwanted visits for everything else.

For the full list of what can and can't go in the composter, see our guide What to put in your composter? And if you also have a wormery, its rules are stricter: see what you can feed your worms.

In summary

Citrus: yes in the garden, chopped and in normal quantities. Bread and dairy: a little, buried. Meat and bones: preferably not, except small scraps in a closed bin, and bokashi is the best option. Herbivore litter: yes; cat and dog: no. Weeds gone to seed, perennial weeds and diseased plants: no, because a home composter doesn't get hot enough to neutralise them. In a shared composter, the site's rules always come first.

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