How to Recycle Plate Scrapings & Leftovers
Mixed leftovers scraped off plates: cooked food, meat, dairy, rice, pasta, and sauces. Whether you can compost these comes down to whether your city collects organics.
Quick answer
The meat, dairy, bones, and oily parts of a plate scraping need a municipal organics program, and only about 1 in 9 US households has one of any kind, a third of those drop-off rather than curbside. Those foods do not belong in an open backyard pile: it will not reach the 131 degrees Fahrenheit needed to kill pathogens, and it will draw rats. Plain leftover rice, pasta, bread, and vegetables are fine at home. Without a city program, bokashi fermentation handles the rest. Do not send any of it down the disposal, which EPA ranks no better than a landfill. Before you go, confirm that a local recycling center accepts the material in its current condition.
- Recycling route
- Special handling
- Typical value
- Wasted food costs the average American about $728 a year, or $2,913 for a household of four (EPA, April 2025). The savings come from not wasting the food, not from the compost.
How to Prepare
- 1Scrape plates into a lidded countertop pail rather than the sink
- 2Pull out foil, plastic utensils, packaging, and anything that is not food
- 3Drain off free liquid, and keep cooking oil out entirely
- 4Check whether your program requires certified compostable liner bags, bans them, or caps the size
- 5Set aside anything still fit to eat before it hits the pail; donation outranks composting
- 6If you have no organics cart, ferment scraps in a bokashi bucket and bury the output
Where to Recycle
- Municipal curbside organics collection
- Drop-off food scrap sites
- Commercial composting facilities
- Anaerobic digesters
- Restaurant and institutional food waste programs
- Bokashi fermentation at home
Special Instructions
EPA gives two separate reasons to keep meat, dairy, and grease out of a backyard pile, and most guides mention only the first. They attract animals, and home piles do not get hot enough to break them down. The pathogen benchmark is 55 degrees Celsius, or 131 Fahrenheit, held three days in a vessel or aerated pile, from the federal process-to-further-reduce-pathogens standard that most state composting rules adopt. Backyard piles hit 130 to 160 degrees only in the core. Municipal facilities run hot enough, which is why Austin explains its curbside program takes meat and dairy while a backyard pile cannot. Pests are a documented problem rather than a theoretical one: Cornell's composting survey found rats and other animals the third most common obstacle, and rats chew through plastic bins starting at the vents, so keep gaps under a quarter inch. Bokashi is the home workaround, though it is anaerobic fermentation rather than composting. Ferment 10 to 14 days after the bucket is full, then bury the output for another two to four weeks, since it comes out acidic and biologically active and must go into soil rather than on top of it.
Environmental Impact
Households send far more food down the drain than into compost. Of residential food waste in EPA's 2019 accounting, 15.0 percent went to the sewer against 3.7 percent composted, with 66.2 percent landfilled. That matters because EPA's Wasted Food Scale ranks sending food down the drain in the same least-preferred tier as landfilling and incineration; a garbage disposal is not an upgrade on the trash. Composting sits three tiers higher, and preventing the waste, donating it, upcycling it, and feeding animals all rank higher still. EPA also notes that sewer and wastewater treatment are better understood as temporary collection points than as a real destination.
Sustainable Alternatives
- Donate surplus that is still edible; the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act shields donors from civil and criminal liability short of gross negligence
- Use a food rescue app or a local pantry for prepared surplus
- Ferment scraps in a bokashi bucket, then bury the output in a bed or trench
- Plan meals and store leftovers so less ends up scraped off the plate
- Feed suitable scraps to backyard animals where your state permits it
Official guidance and resources
Accepted items and drop-off rules can vary by location. Check the destination before you go.
What’s Accepted
Accepted
- Cooked rice, pasta, and grains (home piles take these too)
- Bread and baked goods (home piles take these too)
- Leftover cooked vegetables and fruit (home piles take these too)
- Sauces and condiments in small amounts
- Pizza crusts and sandwich ends
- Cooked meat, poultry, and fish (municipal and commercial programs)
- Bones (municipal and commercial programs)
- Dairy and cheese (municipal and commercial programs)
- Spoiled and moldy prepared food
Not Accepted
- Meat, dairy, bones, and grease in an open backyard pile
- Free liquid and cooking oil (most programs exclude it; a few allow small amounts blotted into a paper towel)
- Food still in packaging or containers
- Plastic utensils, straws, and produce-bag scraps mixed in
- Anything down the garbage disposal as a substitute for composting
Donation & Take‑Back Options
Estimated value: Wasted food costs the average American about $728 a year, or $2,913 for a household of four (EPA, April 2025). The savings come from not wasting the food, not from the compost.
FAQs
Can I compost meat and dairy in my backyard bin?
No. EPA puts both on its backyard avoid-list for two reasons: they attract animals, and home piles do not reach temperatures high enough to break them down. The pathogen benchmark is 131 degrees Fahrenheit held for three days, and a backyard pile reaches 130 to 160 only in its core. Use a municipal organics cart, which composts hot enough, or ferment them in a bokashi bucket and bury the result.
Which cities actually take meat, bones, and dairy?
San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Minneapolis, Austin, Boulder, and New York City all list meat, bones, and dairy as accepted in their residential organics programs, and BioCycle found the majority of curbside programs allow meat, fish, and dairy. Only about 1 in 9 US households has any municipally supported food scrap collection at all, and a third of those are drop-off rather than curbside.
Is a garbage disposal better than throwing food in the trash?
No. EPA's Wasted Food Scale places sending food down the drain in the same least-preferred tier as landfilling and incineration, and pathways within a tier rank equally. Composting sits three tiers above both. EPA also describes wastewater treatment as a temporary collection point rather than a genuine destination for food.
What about moldy or spoiled cooked food?
It composts normally, and mold is just decomposition already underway. Denver and Seattle both list spoiled and moldy food as accepted. Take it out of any packaging first.
Can I donate leftovers instead?
Prepared surplus can be donated, and federal law protects donors. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act covers civil and criminal liability except for gross negligence or intentional misconduct, and the Food Donation Improvement Act signed January 5, 2023 extended that protection to grocers, restaurants, caterers, schools, and other qualified direct donors giving food straight to people in need rather than routing it through a nonprofit. Harvard's food law clinic notes there is still no court case on record over food donation liability.
Should I separate different types of food waste?
Generally no. Programs that accept food scraps take them mixed. What varies is the edges: liner bags, cooking oil, compostable serviceware, and pet waste are all common exclusions, so read your program's list rather than the generic advice.
Recycle plate scrapings & leftovers
Search recycling centers by city or ZIP, or explore more food waste materials.