Can you compost paper towels?

Why

Paper towel is short-fibre cellulose. It breaks down quickly, absorbs moisture well and counts as a brown, though a weaker one than cardboard.

How to add it

Tear it up and mix it in. Wet towels break down faster than dry ones.

Napkins, paper plates without a plastic coating, and unbleached kitchen roll all behave the same way.

Common mistakes

Composting towels used with bleach or antibacterial spray. Those are designed to kill the organisms you are cultivating.

Assuming all ‘paper’ plates are paper. Many are plastic-lined and will leave you picking film out of finished compost.

What the “used with what” rule actually means

Paper towel is inert cellulose. Whether it can be composted is entirely a question of what is on it, not what it is.

Water, food spills, coffee, crumbs: straight in.

Cooking oil or grease: small amounts are tolerable; a towel saturated with fat is not. Fat repels water and goes rancid.

Cleaning products, bleach, disinfectant, polish: keep out. These are designed to kill microorganisms, which is precisely what you are cultivating.

Raw meat juices: the same reasoning as composting meat. Small residues in a hot pile are fine, but in a cold domestic pile it is an unnecessary pathogen and rodent risk.

Tissues and napkins

Both compost readily. Used tissues are fine in a garden pile. The pathogens involved do not survive long outside a host, and they are not going anywhere near your salad. If that bothers you, keep them out; the volume is small either way.

The plastic-lining trap

Many paper plates, takeaway containers and “paper” cups have a polyethylene or PLA lining. They look like paper, tear like paper, and leave a plastic film in your finished compost. If it is glossy on one side, be suspicious. See is compostable packaging really compostable.

As a brown

Paper towel is a weaker brown than cardboard. It is thinner, breaks down faster, and provides less structure. Useful as part of the mix, not as your main carbon source.