Can You Compost Bread: Now Answered

Maybe you have gathered plenty waste of bread and you are wondering “can I add this bread waste to my compost”.

The short answer: bread can be added to your compost and composted with other compostable materials. But, it is good to cut larger bread into smaller pieces to increase surface area for easy breakdown.

Keep reading to find out how to compost bread and what are the issues raised concerning adding bread to a compost.

Can you Compost Bread?

In order to make everything understandable and to be able to figure out whether bread is compostable or not, it is important to know the individual ingredients from which bread is made and what are the qualities that are required for organic matters to be compostable.

Basically, bread is made from the combination of flour, water, salt/sugar, and yeast and sometimes some additional ingredients such as egg and butter.

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Looking at these ingredients, we can easily come to a conclusion that these ingredients are all organic matters and biodegradable.

Having this solid information about bread at the back of our minds, let us explain briefly what composting and compost are all about.

Composting is the process in which organic materials that were regarded as waste are recycled into a useful resource known as ccompost.

On the other hand, compost is made by decomposing organic matters to smaller organic and inorganic particles with the help of microorganisms. These microorganisms include millipedes, bacteria, fungi, and earthworms.

As you can see bread is an organic material and so when you add bread scraps to your compost, the bread will be decomposed.

Unlike other kinds of kitchen and garden waste like fish scraps, meat scraps, and cooking oils, bread will not male your compost to smell bad or delay the composting process.

The only issue that was raised with regard to adding bread in compost is that bread can attract pests such as rodents. And these can come and temper or mess up with the whole compost.

In my own opinion, this is not a reason that can make you avoid adding bread to your compost. This is because most composting containers are locally made or bought with their cover intact. So, you can cover the compost bin or pile and call it a day to the rodents.

Main points: bread is organic matter that is easy to breakdown. And so adding bread scraps to your compost can reduce the amount of bread waste you trash and then make something good out of it that will be of benefit to your garden plants.

Related:

Is Bread green or brown Compostable Materials?

This is a very important concept that you need to understand if you want to start composting your leftovers and garden waste. Because the quality of your compost generally depends on how you balance between brown and green organic matters in the compost.

And therefore knowing which one is green and brown compostable material is an essential part in composting.

So, what are green and brown organic matters in composting?

Brown organic matters are organic matters that contain high amount of carbon. Other distinguishing features of brown organic materials are: they are mostly woody and dried carbon materials, which can absorb moisture from the neighbouring materials.

On the other hand, green organic matters are rich in nitrogen compound and they can release moisture to the closest materials they come in contact with.

So, is bread a green or brown organic matter? As earlier explained, the main ingredient of bread is flour and it takes about 80% of the bread.

Additionally, flour contains high amount of carbohydrates . on the other hand carbohydrates contain more of carbon compound. So, going by the high amount of carbohydrates that can be found in flour, we can arrive at a conclusion that bread is a brown organic matter.

How to Compost Bread

Bread scraps are easy to breakdown. But, you can also speed up or quicken the process by following these simple bread composting tips:

Locate your compost bin or pile on a good spot: find a good spot at your back that receive reasonable amount of sunshine daily and then place your compost bin or pile. Put a wooden or bricks support if you have pests such as rodents nearby.

Cut the bread: before adding the bread to your compost pile or bin, cut the bread into small sizes. This helps make the bread scraps to be decomposed by microorganisms so easily and quickly.

Mix the bread with greens: find your green compostable materials such as coffee grounds and leafy green vegetables and then mix them with bread. The bread will absorb the moisture from these waste scraps and also make them more easily to be digested by the microorganisms.

Add the mixture of greens and bread to your compost bin or pile: locate the center of the compost bin or pile and place the mixture of bread and greens.

By placing the bread in the center, you prevent your compost from attack by rodents. You also increase the rate at which heat can be generated and so helping your compost to finish quickly.

Cover the bread with browns layer: follow the layer of bread with another layer of brown organic matters. Organic matters include shredded newspapers, chopped straw, chopped hay, chopped tree branches, and dried leaves. Add them in pieces to your compost.

Add pure garden soil: garden soil is rich with decayed plants materials and decomposition microorganisms. So, adding garden soil to the compost can increase the amount of organic matters and microorganisms, which will help speed up the composting process.

Turn the bread compost timely: you need to turn the compost timely. This will increase air, heat, and moisture in the compost. And these factors are required for speeding up the composting process and producing clean compost.

Tip: Learn more on how to make a compost in a pile or bin

Related Questions

Can you Compost Moldy Bread?

Moldy bread can be composted. Moldy bread is a bread that starts producing mold fungus. This type of bread scraps is a good compostable material.

This is because when added to the compost, the bread can increase the number of decomposition microorganisms, which in turn speed up the composting process.

Can you Compost Stale Bread?

Stale bread is a bread waste that is decayed. This type of compostable material has already started decomposing and so when added to the compost, the stale bread is quickly decomposed by the decomposition microorganisms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you Compost Meat?

Meat scraps are not good for composting. They make compost to release bad odour and also attract pests to the compost when added.

Can you Compost Cheese?

Cheese is one of the dairy products. And most gardeners usually avoid adding cheese to third compost because cheese can attract rodents and sometimes make your compost to release unpleasant odour.

Can you Compost Rice?

Yes, rice can be added to the compost and can decompose more quickly. You can add cooked and uncooked rice in your compost. You maybe heard that when you add rice either cooked or uncooked rice, it can attract rodents, which may mess up with your compost.

But, this will happen if you left the compost opened. If you cover the compost container with a lid and a good location is located for the compost container, there is not going to be any problem.

Can you Compost Pasta?

Pasta is one of the starchy foods such as bread and crackers, and these can all be composted conveniently. They make a nice brown addition when added to the compost.

Conclusion

In this article, I discussed the reasons why you should add bread in your compost. I also looked at how to compost bread. I hope this article will be helpful to you. Let me know if you have any question in the comments section below.

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References

Leaf mold compost reduces waste, improves soil and microbial properties, and increases tomato productivity
” Leaf mold compost reduces waste, improves soil and microbial properties, and increases tomato productivity” retrieved from ResearchGate