What is “Clean”/Accepted for Composting?

CLEAN - Yes, we want it!

Food Scraps… including:

  • fruits & veggies - include stems, pits, seeds, corncobs, etc., but PLEASE REMOVE STICKERS

  • pasta, grains, breads & cake, pastries, candy

  • coffee grounds

  • non-synthetic tea bags - PLEASE REMOVE STAPLES. (When in doubt about the material of the bag, cut open the tea bag and empty the leaves into your compost bin. There are many health benefits to switching to plastic free teabags - a list of reasons & brands are available here.)

  • eggs & eggshells

  • meat & fish, including bones

  • lobster shells are okay, but NOT mussels, clams, or oysters (because they do not break down.)

  • dairy: cheese, yogurt, etc.

  • nuts & coconut shells

Household Items

  • wood: toothpicks, popsicle sticks, chopsticks, utensils

  • pet FOOD (no pet waste)

  • house plants & flowers - please remove tags and rubber bands, no potting soil. (Potting soil can be placed in your yard or used again.)

Food soiled paper

  • food soiled napkins & paper toils

  • food soiled cardboard egg cartons

  • IF TORN INTO PIECES TO FIT INTO YOUR BIN: food soiled pizza boxes. (The top-half of pizza boxes are usually clean - we ask that folks tear the top half off and recycle it if clean.)

Note: Clean paper and cardboard are better recycled. We take the above items that are food-soiled only, but not chemical or cleaner-soiled.

We ask customers please tear paper products into manageable pieces, because when the composting facility gets breezy, large items catch the wind and become very troublesome to collect again.

CONTAMINATED - No, please leave this out.

Packaging

  • ABSOLUTELY NO PLASTIC: cups, containers, wrappers, chip bags. Not even “compostable plastic” items, as many are difficult to verify, take a very long time to break-down, and are full of hazardous chemicals.

  • NO CARTONS: milk, juice, ice cream

  • NO stickers

  • NO meat packaging or styrofoam

  • NO “compostable” utensils (wood is okay.)

  • NO takeout containers

Household Items

  • No bodily fluids

  • No ash (stove, fireplace, or grill)

  • No compostable diapers or sanitary products

  • NO PET WASTE, including cat litter

  • No dead animals

  • No grass clippings

  • No laundry lint

  • No textiles (there is a bin in Delmar, corner of route 32 and Elm Ave, that accepts textiles. Other textile recycling locations can be found at www.nytextiles.org)

  • No dental floss or q-tips

Paper

  • No mail envelopes, shiny paper, magazines, cereal boxes, shredded paper (these are better recycled)

  • No plastic or waxed cardboard

  • No chemically soiled paper: disinfectant wipes, or paper soiled with machine oil, house paint, cleaners, etc.

Note: Clean paper and cardboard are better recycled. Paper does not add to the nutritional value in our finished compost, can have plastic/chemical contamination, and too much paper added can throw off the “recipe” for the compost piles.