Topic: Compostin Tinned Veg

[Harry]

Here's an odd one...

Composting tinned veg (in veg oil / water emulsion)  ?????

I have about 50 large catering cans of tinned Friarielli (turnip tops in sunflower oil) ( Actually it's mostly water ). They are way past sell by date*, but the environmentalist in me says 'compost the contents' and recycle the steel cans.

like this... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284902004012

Any upside or downside in emptying the contents onto my compost heap? They are ring-pull cans so it's no hardship.

Tinned Turnip Tops? I hear you say... Apparently an expensive delicacy not dissimilar to sauteed chard or spinach.

I can't sell it because of where it came from and I don't fancy eating it.

[tricia]

I would compost them Harry, a couple of cans at a time mixed well in. I recently tipped a long out of date bottle of olive oil into my two compost bins after reading that it would act as a soil improver.

Tricia 

[Paulh]

The advice is usually not to put cooked food (and raw meat) on a compost heap because it may attract rats. I'm not sure why peelings are OK but not the cooked vegetable! So adding a large quantity of tinned veg in fatty oil might not be a good idea, but smaller amounts stirred well in are probably OK unless there's a rat problem already.

[Harry]

I would compost them Harry, a couple of cans at a time mixed well in. I recently tipped a long out of date bottle of olive oil into my two compost bins after reading that it would act as a soil improver.

Tricia 

I suppose the olive oil was my concern, not that it was cooked. I'm going to mix it in to my closed bins, bit by bit and see how it goes. Rats do visit, but c'est la vie, they are a site wide issue.

[JanG]

The advice is usually not to put cooked food (and raw meat) on a compost heap because it may attract rats. I'm not sure why peelings are OK but not the cooked vegetable! So adding a large quantity of tinned veg in fatty oil might not be a good idea, but smaller amounts stirred well in are probably OK unless there's a rat problem already.

I’m not convinced by the rat argument as in my experience rats happily eat raw food too. I know for sure that rats love, for example, raw apples, walnuts etc, so I think rats are likely to enjoy a compost heap anyway.

[Harry]

Well, It's gone on.... A couple of cans into each of my tardises and about a 3 - 4 inch layer on my open heap.
The garlic and olive-oil smell made me hungry. A robin showed lots of interest and went for a nibble as I departed.
Time will tell whether the rats like it or not, but it has covered over a layer of veg peel that they had been sampling, judging by nibble marks.

.