Should you compost cooked food waste in your home composted? Read on and see.
There were a lot of really useful and helpful comments in response to my post on dealing with food waste, and my dilemma of what to do with cooked food waste. What really surprised me were a couple of comments from readers saying that they compost this kind of waste, or asking me why I didn’t just chuck it in our composter?
I’ve never composted cooked food waste. The only things I put in there are things like fruit and vegetable peelings; tea bags; coffee grounds; eggshells; paper; cardboard; and the like. Therefore,this was a bit of a revelation to me. As our council don’t offer food waste collection, all of our cooked food waste has just gone in the bin. So I began wondering, should I actually just compost it?
Why You Shouldn’t Compost Cooked Food Waste
The traditional advice has always been to not compost cooked food waste in a standard composter. Zero Waste Scotland, Get Composting, and Love Food Hate Waste all specifically say not to. Apparently composting cooked food creates very dense and wet compost. Composting this kind of waste can also attract pests, such as rats and flies. What’s more, it can create some pretty pungent odours.
Experts say if you have a Green Cone, Green Johanna (doesn’t it sound like a song?!) a Jora Bin, or a Hot Bin then you can compost most types of cooked food, but in a standard compost bin or heap then cooked food is a no go.
My Questions For You
I couldn’t find anything to back up composting cooked food waste in a standard composter, but it’s clear you guys are doing just that! I must just be a stickler for the rules and hadn’t thought about giving it a go! So as I’m interested, and I bet others are too, I have a ton of questions for anyone that’s composting this kind of waste:
- Are you using a conventional compost bin or heap?
- Does it smell?
- Have you noticed rats?
- Are you over-run with flies?
- What’s your compost like?
- Does cooked food waste take longer to break down than raw waste?
Do tell all in the comments below, or drop me a line via email (moralfibres@gmail.com) or Twitter or Facebook. I’ll make sure I add any messages in the comments below as I’m sure they’ll be useful to other readers.
PS: do check out my top tips for composting at home.
We have a bokashi bin in the kitchen which allows us to start the AD of grain & protein based food waste. Once the bin is full, leave it for two weeks and then add to the regular compost bin. The bin also makes a liquid that you can dilute to feed house plants or poor neat down the drains as a natural enzyme based cleaner.
Also, it is worth checking with the producer of your tea as most tea bags contain plastic. That certainly explains why mine don’t fully break down. http://treadingmyownpath.com/2014/07/11/the-scandalous-plastic-in-tea-bags-who-knew/
got rats in conventional bin – no rats in the green joanna http://plasticisrubbish.com/2012/06/30/the-green-johanna-composts-everything/
Thanks for this – I think we might look into a Green Johanna.
Composting food scraps at home is one of the most important aspects of home composting. Why? Because food scrap items such as vegetable and fruit waste, meal leftovers, coffee grounds, tea bags, stale bread, grains, and general refrigerator spoilage are an everyday occurrence in most households
I am a volunteer Master Composter and operate a composting demonstration site to help promote home composting to reduce waste sent to landfill. I have both conventional composy bins and bins design to take cooked food waste. Uncooked food food such as peelings can be composted in a low cost bin purchased via local council schemes but cooked food really needs a sealed container so as to prevent rats using the bin as a canteen. Bins such as the Hotbin, Green Johanna and jorra opearate at higher tempemperatures than conventional garden bins they compost more quickly and kill potental pathogens. I would recommend the investment. There is more information on my website http://www.carryoncomposting.com and I can provide free help and advice.