How to Start Composting: What Goes in the Bin?

No yard? No green thumb? No idea what you're doing? You've come to the right place.

At Soupergirl, we spend a LOT of time with vegetables. We chop 'em, simmer 'em, turn 'em into delicious soup, and give their leftover bits a pretty incredible second act.

In fact, we composted a whopping 270 TONS of food scraps in 2025. That's a whole lot of potato skins, carrot peels, and onion skins getting a new lease on life.

And while we've got composting down to a science in our kitchen… we’re here to tell you that you don't need an industrial setup, a backyard garden, or a fancy countertop gadget to do it in yours.

You just need somewhere to collect your scraps, somewhere for them to go, and a little know-how about what belongs in the bin.

Let's dig in.

Do You Need a Yard?

Nope! And this might be our favorite composting myth to bust.

You don't need a sprawling backyard, raised garden beds, or a collection of gardening tools to get started. You don't even need to make the compost yourself.

If you have a yard, backyard composting is a great option. You manage your own pile, add your food scraps and yard waste, and eventually turn all that organic matter into compost you can use in your garden.

But if you live in an apartment, condo, or home without outdoor space? You can still compost!

Your version of composting can be as simple as collecting kitchen scraps in a sealed container and bringing them to a local drop-off location or signing up for a pickup service.

Someone else handles the actual composting. You get to enjoy the satisfaction of keeping food scraps out of the trash.

Everybody wins.

Your No-Yard Composting Starter Kit

You really only need three things:

• A container. A small kitchen compost bin, a repurposed food container with a lid, or even a reusable container in your freezer will do the trick. No fancy equipment required.

• A place to keep it. Under the sink works. On the counter works. But if you're worried about odors or fruit flies, the freezer is your new best friend.

• Somewhere for your scraps to go. Look for municipal food scrap drop-off locations, community composting programs, farmers market collections, or local pickup services.

And that's it! You're officially composting.

Well, technically you're collecting scraps for composting. But we won't split hairs.

One important thing to remember: Your local composting program gets to make the rules about what goes in the bin. Some facilities accept things that wouldn't belong in a backyard compost pile, so check their guidelines before you start.

And don't feel like you have to compost EVERYTHING from day one. Start with your coffee grounds and vegetable scraps. Once you get the hang of it, you can expand your collection.

Small, consistent habits beat an elaborate composting setup you abandon after two weeks.

What Can You Compost? And Why Do It?

Good news! A surprising amount of what you're tossing in the trash could be destined for something much better.

Think of composting as nature's recycling program. Food scraps and other organic materials break down over time, eventually becoming nutrient-rich compost that helps grow more plants.

Yesterday's carrot peels helping grow tomorrow's carrots? That’s what we like to see.

But before you start tossing everything into the bin, there are two important categories to know: greens and browns.

Greens: The Fresh Stuff 🥬

Don't let the name fool you. Greens aren't necessarily green! They're the nitrogen-rich materials that help fuel the composting process.

According to the EPA's home composting guidance , common green materials include:

• Fruit and vegetable scraps

• Fresh grass clippings

• Coffee grounds and paper filters

• Suitable paper tea bags without staples

Crushed eggshells can also go into your compost, although they're a mineral-rich addition rather than a significant source of nitrogen.

Yes, onion skins count. So do apple cores, broccoli stems, corn cobs, carrot tops, and that sad, forgotten lemon hiding in the back of your fridge.

We see you, lemon. Your time has come.

Browns: The Dry Stuff 🍂

Browns are carbon-rich materials that help balance all those fresh, wet scraps. They also give your compost pile structure and help keep air circulating.

Some common brown materials include:

• Dry leaves

• Plant stalks and small twigs

• Plain, shredded paper

• Shredded cardboard without wax coating or tape

• Untreated wood chips

If you're managing your own backyard compost pile, you'll want a healthy mix of greens and browns.

Too much green material can leave your pile wet, smelly, and generally unpleasant to be around. Adding more browns helps absorb excess moisture, while turning your pile introduces oxygen to keep the decomposition process moving.

Chopping larger scraps into smaller pieces can help speed things up, too. More surface area means more opportunity for those hardworking microbes to do their thing.

If you're using a municipal composting program or pickup service, though, you may not need to worry about balancing greens and browns. They'll handle the composting process for you.

Your job? Collect the scraps and follow your program's guidelines.

Easy peasy, lemon peely.

What Not to Compost

We love giving food scraps a second chance, but not everything belongs in the compost bin.

And here's where the rules depend on where your scraps are headed.

For a typical backyard compost pile, the EPA recommends leaving out :

• Meat, fish, and bones

• Dairy products, including cheese and yogurt

• Fats, oils, and grease

• Large amounts of cooked food

• Pet waste and cat litter

• Diseased or pest-infested plants

• Aggressive weeds and weeds with mature seeds

• Grass and plants treated with certain herbicides

• Treated or painted wood

• Dryer lint, glossy paper, and produce stickers

Why all the exclusions?

Some of these materials can attract pests, create unpleasant odors, introduce unwanted substances, or spread plant diseases. Others simply don't break down well in a typical backyard compost pile.

Commercial composting facilities, on the other hand, may have the equipment and controlled conditions needed to process a wider variety of materials.

Which brings us to one of composting's most confusing questions.

Wait. Isn't This Cup Supposed to Be Compostable?

Ah, the compostable coffee cup. Good intentions, complicated execution.

Just because something says "compostable" doesn't mean it will break down in your backyard compost pile.

Many compostable cups, lids, takeout containers, and bin liners are designed for commercial composting conditions. And even commercial facilities don't necessarily accept every compostable product.

So before tossing that compostable coffee cup into your bin, check with your local composting program.

A little label-reading now can save a lot of trouble later.

And What About Citrus Peels and Onions?

You might have heard that citrus peels and onion skins are composting no-nos.

Good news for all our fellow onion lovers: Both can go into a typical homemade compost pile.

The trick is moderation. A healthy compost pile benefits from a variety of materials, so you probably don't want to dump 40 pounds of orange peels into it at once.

Unless you're operating a very unusual orange juice stand.

For most households, though, your everyday citrus peels and onion scraps are perfectly welcome.

The bottom line? Follow the guidelines for YOUR composting setup. A backyard pile and a commercial composting facility aren't necessarily playing by the same rules.

Where Does Compost Go?

Here's where things get really interesting.

When food scraps go into your trash, they typically end up in a landfill. And unlike compost, food buried in a landfill often breaks down without oxygen, producing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

According to the EPA's Wasted Food Scale , food makes up about 24% of the material in U.S. municipal solid waste landfills. Wasted food is also responsible for an estimated 58% of methane emissions released from those landfills.

That's a pretty big deal for something as ordinary as yesterday's vegetable scraps.

Composting gives those scraps a very different ending.

Instead of getting buried in a landfill, organic materials break down in an oxygen-rich environment and become compost, a valuable soil amendment that helps soil retain moisture and supports healthy plant growth.

In other words, we're taking something that would otherwise go to waste and turning it into something that helps grow more food.

A full-circle veggie moment. We love to see it.

Getting Through Two Weeks To Create The Habit

Ready to get started? Here's our advice: Keep it simple.

You don't have to overhaul your entire kitchen routine overnight. You don't have to compost every single scrap. And you definitely don't need to become the neighborhood composting expert by next Tuesday.

Start with the easy stuff.

Coffee grounds. Banana peels. Carrot tops. The outer leaves of your cabbage.

Once you get into the habit, you'll probably be surprised by how much less food waste ends up in your trash.

Here are a few things to expect during your first couple of weeks:

• Your container might fill up faster than you think. Turns out, a household can produce a LOT of food scraps. If your bin is overflowing by Wednesday, you might need a bigger container or more frequent drop-offs.

• Things might get a little funky. Wet food scraps sitting in a warm, sealed container aren't exactly a recipe for freshness. Try freezing your scraps, emptying your container more often, or adding dry browns (like a layer of shredded cardboard) if you're managing your own compost pile.

• The weather can change things. If you're composting outdoors, decomposition generally slows down during colder months and picks back up when temperatures rise.

• You'll probably forget sometimes. You'll scrape a plate into the trash on autopilot or accidentally toss a banana peel in the wrong bin. No biggie. Just keep going.

The goal isn't to be a perfect composter. It's to make composting feel like a natural part of your routine.

Before you know it, tossing your carrot peels into the compost bin will feel as normal as making your morning coffee.

And there's something pretty wonderful about that.

After all, the end of a vegetable's time in your kitchen doesn't have to be the end of its story.

Sometimes, it's just the beginning of something new.

Good food. Less waste. Healthier soil. That's something we can all dig.

Want to learn more about how we're working to make delicious soup that's better for people and the planet? Check out our sustainability commitments.