Composting Tip: Can I compost Beans?

We love to get reader questions. Laura asks us the following:

“hi, thanks. I wonder about beans….are they like meat? i cook beans for two and inevitably have left over, can i compost? will they attract rats etc I live in the city…up til now i only am using raw fruit and veggie and grass leaves ….thanks (ex: pea soup, no oil, lental soup etc no oil). thank you”

Great question, Laura. The answer is: beans should be fine for composting. Here’s some rules of thumb though: it’s a good idea to bury kitchen scraps and food further down the pile and then put the leaves/grass clippings over them. You might want to follow this tact when composting your beans as well. This will ensure that they will have less of a chance of being subject to rodents and pests.

All in all, you should be fine. Thanks for your question, and hope this helps!

2 thoughts on “Composting Tip: Can I compost Beans?”

    1. It depends on which type of compost bin.

      For compost tumblers, I like the Tumbleweed.
      http://www.cleanairgardening.com/patdesaustum.html

      For standard compost bins, I like the Soilsaver or the Shepherd Bin — depending on how many leaves I have and whether or not I want to keep the contents covered up.
      http://www.cleanairgardening.com/compostbin.html
      http://www.cleanairgardening.com/wirecompostbin.html

      Standard compost bins usually have a bigger capacity than tumblers, but tumblers can work faster if you load them and use them correctly.

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