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How to Recycle Bread & Baked Goods
Stale bread, rolls, tortillas, pastries, and cake. Straightforward to compost, widely accepted by municipal programs, and the food waste most worth eating instead.
Check local acceptanceWorth more eaten than composted. Wasted food costs the average American about $728 a year, or $2,913 for a household of four (EPA, April 2025).Last reviewed July 28, 2026
Quick answer
Plain bread composts in a backyard pile with no special handling. Tear it up, bury it in the center so animals cannot smell it, and cover it with dry leaves or cardboard. Frosted, buttered, and greasy items belong in a municipal cart instead, since fats are on EPA's backyard avoid-list. Moldy bread is fine either way. Before you go, confirm that a local recycling center accepts the material in its current condition.
- Recycling route
- Check locally
- Typical value
- Worth more eaten than composted. Wasted food costs the average American about $728 a year, or $2,913 for a household of four (EPA, April 2025).
How to Prepare
- 1Take off all packaging, twist ties, and wrappers
- 2Tear into smaller pieces so they break down on more surface area
- 3Bury bread in the center of the pile and cover it with leaves or cardboard
- 4Add it gradually rather than dumping a whole stale loaf at once
- 5Keep heavily frosted, buttered, or greasy items for a municipal cart
- 6Close up gaps larger than a quarter inch in a home bin, and screen the vents
Where to Recycle
- Home compost bins (plain bread)
- Municipal curbside organics collection
- Commercial composting facilities
- Food rescue programs and pantries (fresh items)
- Licensed animal feed operations
Special Instructions
Bread sits awkwardly in the greens-and-browns framework and sources disagree about where it belongs. A Cornell Cooperative Extension county guide files bread, tortillas, crackers, and pretzels under browns. Other guides call it a green because it is a moist food scrap. At household volumes the distinction barely matters: add it in moderation and keep the pile balanced with dry leaves or cardboard as you would anyway. Bread is not on EPA's backyard avoid-list; fats, oils, and grease are, which is what rules out buttered toast, frosted cake, and donuts for a home pile. Municipal programs take all of it, and Portland, Austin, Minneapolis, Denver, and Seattle list bread and baked goods explicitly. Free liquid grease is a separate question that splits by city, with Portland refusing liquids, grease, and cooking oil outright while San Francisco allows small amounts blotted into a paper towel. For pests, apply the same precautions you would to any food scrap: bury it in the center, cover it, and keep bin gaps under a quarter inch, since rats chew through plastic bins starting at the vents.
Environmental Impact
Feeding animals ranks above composting on EPA's Wasted Food Scale, and bakery waste is where that pathway is real. Roughly 15.2 million tons of US food waste went to animal feed in 2019, counting both the retail and consumer stream and the much larger flow from food manufacturing. Dried bread has been used in dairy rations at up to 20 percent of concentrate dry matter, with a lower ceiling for high-fat items like donuts, and broiler trials have found no significant effect on growth at 10 to 30 percent dried bakery waste. Ahead of that sits not wasting it: USDA notes that except for infant formula, product dating is not required by federal regulation and the dates are not safety indicators, so bread past a Best if Used By date may still be sold, donated, and eaten.
Sustainable Alternatives
- Turn stale loaves into breadcrumbs, croutons, stuffing, or bread pudding
- Freeze bread before it stales rather than after
- Donate unopened and fresh items to a food bank; a passed Best if Used By date does not bar donation
- Feed to backyard chickens or ducks, checking your state agriculture department first
- Send commercial volumes to a licensed animal feed operation
Official guidance and resources
Accepted items and drop-off rules can vary by location. Check the destination before you go.
What’s Accepted
Accepted
- Bread of any kind, including stale and moldy
- Bagels, rolls, and buns
- Crackers and breadsticks
- Tortillas and flatbreads
- Plain cakes and muffins
- Pastries and donuts (municipal programs; too greasy for a home pile)
- Frosted and cream-filled items (municipal programs)
Not Accepted
- Heavily buttered, frosted, or greasy items in a backyard pile
- Free cooking oil and liquid grease (most programs exclude it)
- Items still in packaging or wrappers
- Bread fed to pigs where your state prohibits garbage feeding
Donation & Take‑Back Options
Estimated value: Worth more eaten than composted. Wasted food costs the average American about $728 a year, or $2,913 for a household of four (EPA, April 2025).
FAQs
Can moldy bread be composted?
Yes, and no special precautions are needed. Mold is decomposition already started. Seattle's guidance says food can always be composted whether it is scraps or ends, moldy or rotten, and Denver's green cart explicitly lists spoiled and moldy food. Bread does not appear on EPA's backyard avoid-list in any form.
Is bread a green or a brown in compost?
Sources disagree, and it matters less than the question suggests. A Cornell Cooperative Extension county guide lists bread, tortillas, crackers, and pretzels among browns. Other guides classify it as a green because it is a moist food scrap. At household quantities, add it in moderation and keep the pile balanced with leaves or cardboard regardless of which label you use.
Will bread attract rats to my compost?
Any food scrap can. There is no good evidence bread is a special draw, so use the same precautions you would for the rest: bury it in the center of the pile, cover it over, keep bin gaps under a quarter inch, and screen the vents. Cornell's survey found animal pests the third most common composting obstacle, and rats will chew through a plastic bin starting at the vents.
Can I compost bread with butter or spreads?
Not in a backyard pile. EPA lists fats, oils, and grease on its avoid-list for two reasons: they draw animals, and home piles do not run hot enough to break them down. Municipal programs take them, since those facilities compost hot.
Can I feed leftover bread to pigs or chickens?
For pigs, bakery waste is federally exempt from the rule that otherwise requires garbage to be cooked at 212 degrees for 30 minutes under a licensee, which applies to garbage containing or contacting meat, poultry, or fish. State law still governs: USDA APHIS lists 27 states and territories that allow garbage feeding under license, and the rest prohibit it. Federal swine rules do not cover chickens, so check your state agriculture department for backyard poultry.
Recycle bread & baked goods
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