What to compost in winter and what to skip

Compost doesn’t stop working in winter—it just slows down. You can keep adding to your bin or pile all year, and it’ll wake up fast in spring. The trick is knowing what still belongs there when temps drop and what should stay out so you’re not creating a soggy, smelly mess.

Here’s what experts say to toss in and what to avoid once it’s cold.

1. Keep adding kitchen scraps (with browns)

Fruit and veggie peels, coffee grounds, tea bags (check for plastic), and eggshells can still go in your pile. They won’t break down fast in freezing temps, but they’ll be ready to decompose once things warm up. Just be sure to cover them with a layer of “browns” like leaves or shredded paper to keep smells down.

2. Use fall leaves as your winter “browns”

Dry leaves are gold for winter composting. Bag or pile them nearby and sprinkle a layer over every bucket of kitchen scraps. This keeps your pile from getting too wet and adds carbon, which balances the high-nitrogen food waste.

3. Add sawdust, straw, and shredded cardboard

If your pile looks soggy or dense, add extra carbon: straw, torn cardboard, paper egg cartons, or untreated sawdust. These help airflow and soak up extra moisture from snow and winter rains.

4. Skip meat, dairy, and oily foods

This is a good rule year-round but especially in winter, when piles don’t heat up enough to break them down. Meat, cheese, and greasy leftovers can attract animals and smell rough.

5. Avoid invasive weeds and seedy plants

Because winter piles run cooler, they don’t reliably kill weed seeds or aggressive roots. Skip invasive plants, mature weeds with seed heads, or anything that tends to take over beds. Bag those for trash instead.

6. Be careful with diseased plant material

If you’ve had issues like blight, mildew, or other plant diseases, winter compost may not get hot enough to kill them. Extension offices recommend keeping clearly diseased foliage out of the pile and sending it out with yard waste or trash.

7. Don’t soak the pile trying to “wake it up”

Adding extra water in winter usually just creates an icy, anaerobic mess. Most guides say to keep the pile damp like a wrung-out sponge, not soggy, and let snow and rain handle the rest.

8. Insulate instead of overworking it

Instead of turning constantly, winter composting is more about protecting heat. Pile on a top “blanket” of leaves, straw, or finished compost and reduce how often you turn it when temps are below freezing.

9. Keep it away from streams and standing water

Even in winter, nutrient-rich runoff from compost can end up where you don’t want it. Universities recommend keeping piles away from ditches, streams, or pond edges to avoid contributing extra nutrients to the water.