The Definitive Guide on How to Compost Everything from the Garden and Kitchen

Just about everything can be composted using cold (slow) composting, hot (fast) composting, worm farms (vermicomposting), bokashi composting and Hügelkultur composting.

The table in this article lists how to compost just about every garden and kitchen material that can be recycled, and which composting systems can be used to compost it.

One of the most wasteful and unsustainable things to do is to toss out perfectly good organic matter (materials that were once living) from the kitchen or garden. Everything can be composted, provided that the correct method of composting is used!

The Complete List of Garden and Kitchen Waste Materials and How to Compost Them

The table below list almost every compost material in alphabetical order, and shows the methods that can be used to compost it.

Materials marked with a marked with a tick (✔) can be composted using the method indicated.

Materials marked with a cross (✖) in the table should not be composted using the composting method the cross appears under. If all rows are marked this way, the material (which is usually toxic) is not suitable for composting in any way whatsoever!

Any items marked with an asterisk (*) in the table are either usable in small quantities, or there are conditions when using them, which are listed below the table.

Material	Hot Compost	Cold Compost	Worm Farm	Bokashi Compost
Animal manures, vegetarian	✔	✔	✖	✖
Ash, BBQ briquette	✖	✖	✖	✖
Ash, wood	✔ *	✔ *	✖	✖
Bamboo skewers	✔	✔	✖	✖
Bread	✔	✔	✔	✔
Brown paper bags	✔	✔	✖	✖
Cardboard, printed	✖	✖	✖	✖
Cardboard, unprinted	✔	✔	✖	✖
Cereals	✔	✔	✔	✔
Cheese	✔	✖	✖	✔
Chopsticks, wooden	✔	✔	✖	✖
Material	Hot Compost	Cold Compost	Worm Farm	Bokashi Compost
Citrus, peel or fruit	✔ *	✔ *	✖	✔
Coffee grounds	✔	✔	✔	✔
Cooked vegetables, grains, pasta & rice	✔	✔	✔	✔
Cooking oil	✖	✖	✖	✖
Dairy products	✔ *	✖	✖	✔
Diseased plants	✖	✖	✖	✖
Dryer lint	✖	✖	✖	✖
Egg cartons	✔	✔	✖	✖
Egg shells, crushed	✔	✔	✔	✔
Fats, and foods containing this	✖	✖	✖	✔
Material	Hot Compost	Cold Compost	Worm Farm	Bokashi Compost
Fish & seafood	✔ *	✖	✖	✔
Flour	✔	✔	✔	✔
Flowers, cut	✔	✔	✖	✖
Fruit & vegie scraps	✔	✔	✔	✔
Garden prunings	✔	✔	✖	✖
Garden waste	✔	✔	✖	✖
Garlic	✔	✔	✖	✔
Kitchen scraps, fruits & vegetables	✔	✔	✔	✔
Lawn clippings	✔	✔	✖	✖
Leaves	✔	✔	✖	✖
Material	Hot Compost	Cold Compost	Worm Farm	Bokashi Compost
Meat, or foods containing this	✔ *	✖	✖	✔
Natural fibre fabrics	✔	✖	✖	✖
Newspaper	✔	✔	✔ *	✔ *
Onions	✔ *	✔ *	✖	✔
Paper, bleached (eg. office paper)	✖	✖	✖	✖
Paper, glossy, coated (eg. magazines)	✖	✖	✖	✖
Paper unbleached non-glossy	✔	✔	✖	✖
Personal hygiene products (tissues, tampons, etc)	✖	✖	✖	✖
Pet hair and feathers	✔	✔	✖	✖
Pet poo from non-vegetarian animals (dogs, cats, etc)	✖	✖	✖	✖
Material	Hot Compost	Cold Compost	Worm Farm	Bokashi Compost
Pine needles	✔	✔	✖	✖
Plants treated with toxic pesticides, herbicides	✖	✖	✖	✖
Rice	✔	✔	✔	✔
Sales receipts & thermal paper	✖	✖	✖	✖
Sawdust	✔ *	✔ *	✖	✖
Sticky labels	✖	✖	✖	✖
Straw mulches	✔	✔	✖	✖
Tea bags	✔ *	✔ *	✔ *	✔ *
Toothpicks	✔	✔	✖	✖
Vacuum cleaner dust	✖	✖	✖	✖
Material	Hot Compost	Cold Compost	Worm Farm	Bokashi Compost
Weeds that regrow from cuttings, seeds, roots	✔	✖	✖	✖
Wood ashes	✔	✔	✖	✖
Wood shavings	✔	✔	✖	✖
Wood, treated (pieces or sawdust)	✖	✖	✖	✖
Woody branches large	✖	✖	✖	✖
Woody branches, mulched	✔	✔	✖	✖

Composting materials marked with an asterisk (*) have certain conditions when used, and these are listed below in alphabetical order:

* What You Should Not Put in Your Hot or Cold Compost

1. Ash from barbecue briquettes or coal – these are not the same as wood ash, and contain toxic chemicals
   
2. Ash from wood (wood ash) – can be added to compost, or directly to garden beds, in small quantities, more frequently. Don’t add too much all at once as it’s very alkaline, will raise pH and can stop composting process.
   
3. Branches (large) – take too long to break down unless they are mulched first, use the technique of Hügelkultur to compost large branches and tree trunks
   
4. Citrus peel – can use in very small amounts, too much and they can kill the compost bacteria
   
5. Cooking oil – will become rancid and smell unpleasant
   
6. Dairy products – will rot, smell unpleasant and attract pests such as rodents
   
7. Dryer lint – once recommended, but now contain too many synthetic fibres which don’t break down
   
8. Fats, or foods containing these – will rot, smell unpleasant and attract pests such as rodents. Can be hot composted when placed in centre of pile when first constructed.
   
9. Fish scraps, or foods containing these – will rot, smell unpleasant and attract pests such as rodents. Can be hot composted when placed in centre of pile when first constructed.
   
10. Labels (sticky), such as those on produce and packaging – are made of plastic and/or contain toxic chemicals in the glue
    
11. Meat scraps, or foods containing these – will rot, smell unpleasant and attract pests such as rodents. Can be hot composted when placed in centre of pile when first constructed.
    
12. Onions – can use in very small amounts, too much and they can kill the compost bacteria
    
13. Paper (bleached), eg. office paper – contain toxic chlorine-based chemicals which shouldn’t be composted
    
14. Paper (glossy or coated), eg. magazines – contain toxic chemicals
    
15. Paper (thermal) and sales receipts – contain a mix of toxic chemicals which shouldn’t be composted
    
16. Personal hygiene products, such as tissues, tampons – unhygienic, health hazard
    
17. Pet poo from non-vegetarian animals, such as cats, dogs and other meat-eating animals – contain many pathogens which are a health hazard and can cause diseases
    
18. Plants (diseased), should be disposed of in regular landfill garbage bin or burnt – can cause diseases to spread in the garden)
    
19. Plants treated with toxic pesticides and herbicides – will contaminate compost, soil and food with toxic chemicals, some herbicides don’t break down and will contaminate compost
    
20. Tea bags (plastic mesh) – some tea bags are made of a fine plastic mesh rather than the traditional paper bag, the plastic does not break down
    
21. Vacuum cleaner dust – once recommended, but now contain too many synthetic fibres which don’t break down
    
22. Weeds which regrow from cuttings, seeds or roots
    
23. Wood (chemically treated) pieces or sawdust, such as CCA (copper-chromium-arsenic) treated pine – contain highly toxic copper, chromium and arsenic which will contaminate soil
    

* What You Can Put in Your Worm Farm (With Caution!)

• Citrus – use only small amounts, or none at all
  
• Onions – use only small amounts, or none at all
  
• Vacuum cleaner dust – only if carpets are made of natural fibre, not synthetic carpets

* What You Should Not Put in Your Worm Farm

• Fish – will rot, smell unpleasant and attract pests such as rodents, use a Bokashi bin instead to compost meat
  
• Garden waste – too slow to break down in a worm farm, use regular cold composting or hot composting instead.
  
• Manures (fresh) – many animals are treated for worms with vermicides, which pass into the fresh manure and will kill your worms, compost manures from vegetarian animals such as cow, horse, sheep for three months first!
  
• Meat – will rot, smell unpleasant and attract pests such as rodents, use a Bokashi bin instead to compost meat
  
• Paper (bleached), eg. office paper – contain toxic chlorine-based chemicals which shouldn’t be composted
  
• Paper (glossy or coated), eg. magazines – contain toxic chemicals
  
• Paper (thermal) and sales receipts – contain a mix of toxic chemicals which shouldn’t be composted
  
• Pet waste – from meat-eating animals such as cats and dogs, was once only used in a dedicated worm farm for pet waste only, but most pets are now treated for worms with vermicides, which pass into the pet poo and kill the worm. Use a dedicated, in-ground pet poo bokashi system, which can be purchased for this purpose.
  
• Tea bags (plastic mesh) – some tea bags are made of a fine plastic mesh rather than the traditional paper bag, the plastic does not break down

Download the above information with full-colour lists here – Handout – The Complete List of Garden and Kitchen Waste Materials and How to Compost Them

I have also made this information available as colourful infographics below, there are six separate images which can be saved (right mouse click and select Save) and are also printable:

More detailed information on each of these systems of composting is available in the following articles:

• How to Make Compost in 18 Days Using the Berkeley Hot Composting Method
• The Complete Guide to Worm Farming, Vermicomposting Made Easy
• Bokashi Composting, How to Process Waste That Can’t Go in Your Compost or Worm Farm
• What Materials Can You Put Into Your Compost Bin and What Not to Compost
• How to Compost Logs and Branches with a Hugelkultur Bed