Whether a program accepts meat and dairy comes down to where the scraps go for processing. Commercial composting facilities have industrial equipment that handles meat and dairy safely. Community gardens and small-scale compost sites don't — meat attracts pests and requires high-heat industrial processing to break down safely.
The Short Answer: It's About the Facility, Not the Rules
Many people assume that "no meat" rules are about composting chemistry — that meat somehow can't be composted. That's not true. Meat, fish, dairy, bones, and cooked food all compost perfectly well. The question is how and where.
A large commercial composting facility has industrial-grade equipment: enclosed systems, forced aeration, temperature monitoring, and pest control. These facilities can safely process everything you'd put in a landfill. A community garden compost bin is an open pile or a simple tumbler — meat attracts rats, flies, and other wildlife, produces strong odors before it breaks down, and takes much longer to process without high heat.
Programs That Accept Meat and Dairy
Municipal programs that contract with commercial composting facilities typically accept everything:
- Chicago — All food scraps, including meat, bones, and dairy. Goes to Whole Earth's Harborview Composting Facility.
- Kansas City — All food scraps. Goes to a local commercial facility via KC Can Compost.
- Washington DC — Staffed events and smart bins accept meat, bones, and dairy.
- NYC smart bins — All food scraps including meat, bones, dairy, and food-soiled paper.
Programs That Don't Accept Meat or Dairy
Community garden programs, smaller nonprofit drop-offs, and farmer market programs often exclude meat and dairy. This includes:
- Most GrowNYC greenmarket drop-offs in NYC (plant-based only)
- Most community garden-based programs nationwide
- Many smaller city programs that use community composting rather than commercial facilities
- Some subscription hauler programs — check before signing up
The Practical Split for Households
Many composters end up using two programs: a community-level program (convenient, close) for plant scraps, and a municipal or commercial-facility program for meat and dairy. Chicago's FAQ actually recommends this explicitly — use your backyard bin for plants, the city program for meat and dairy.
If you have access to only one drop-off program and it doesn't accept meat or dairy, you have a few options: (1) continue trashing meat scraps while composting everything else — even partial composting is significantly better than nothing, (2) look for a private composting subscription service in your area that accepts all materials, or (3) freeze meat scraps until you can get to a municipal facility that accepts them.