Can You Compost Meat?
Generally no, not in a standard backyard pile or bin. The EPA advises against composting meat, dairy, and greasy foods at home because they attract rodents and other pests, produce strong odors as they rot, and carry pathogens like Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria that most home piles never get hot enough to destroy. Meat also decomposes more slowly than plant scraps. Anaerobic Bokashi fermentation, hot composting systems that sustain high temperatures, or a municipal composting facility are the realistic ways to compost meat safely.
Key Takeaways
- The core problem is temperature.
- Small amounts of grease or meat drippings cause the same odor and pest problems as whole scraps and should also be kept out of open piles.
- Cooked meat and bones are just as risky as raw in a home pile - cooking doesn't remove the pest-attracting scent.
Explanation
The core problem is temperature. Federal guidelines for destroying pathogens in compost (the EPA's Process to Further Reduce Pathogens standard) require holding material at 131°F for at least three consecutive days in an enclosed or static aerated system, or 131°F for 15 days with five turnings in a windrow. A typical backyard pile, even one built well with eggshells and other balanced greens and browns, rarely holds that heat evenly all the way through, leaving raw meat scraps as a pathogen risk rather than a nutrient source.
Pests are the more immediate issue. Meat scent travels farther and faster than most kitchen scraps, drawing rats, raccoons, and flies within hours of being buried in an open pile. This is the same reason bread scraps get buried deep in an active pile rather than left on top - meat just amplifies the problem because it's higher in fat and protein, both of which putrefy and smell stronger as they break down in open air.
Bokashi composting sidesteps both problems. It's an anaerobic fermentation method, using a sealed bucket and inoculated bran, that pickles food waste - including meat, dairy, and cooked leftovers - instead of letting it rot in open air. Primary fermentation takes about 2 weeks in a sealed bucket at room temperature, after which the fermented material is buried in soil or added to an outdoor pile, where it finishes breaking down over another 2-4 weeks without the odor or pest problems raw meat would otherwise cause.
If you don't want to manage a Bokashi bucket, the better path for meat scraps is usually a curbside or drop-off municipal composting program. Commercial-scale facilities run large in-vessel or windrow systems engineered to hit and hold PFRP temperatures throughout the pile, turning meat, bones, and grease into usable compost far more reliably than any home setup. Check with your local municipal composting program or waste authority, since acceptance rules for meat and bones vary by facility.
Things to Know
- Small amounts of grease or meat drippings cause the same odor and pest problems as whole scraps and should also be kept out of open piles.
- Cooked meat and bones are just as risky as raw in a home pile - cooking doesn't remove the pest-attracting scent.
- Fish scraps behave like meat: high in protein and fat, prone to smell, and best handled with Bokashi or a commercial facility rather than an open bin.
- Vermicompost (worm) bins should also avoid meat - worms can't process it well and it introduces the same odor and pathogen issues as a regular pile.
- If thawed meat is past its safe use window, discard or compost via Bokashi rather than refreezing or cooking it.
- Enclosed, rodent-proof tumbler composters reduce (but don't eliminate) the pest risk of small meat scraps, though pathogen destruction still depends on reaching PFRP temperatures.