Hi Mabel, Citrus peels take a long time to breakdown which is one reason that it’s not recommended that they be put in the compost pile. The main reason people cite for not composting citrus peels is because they have the citrus essential oil in them and can harm the beneficial microbes that are breaking down the compost pile. Organic gardeners actually use orange oil as a pesticide.

However, you’ll find people who do put citrus peels in the compost and their compost breaks down just fine. If you cut the peels into small pieces they will also compost faster. I actually do add our citrus peels to our compost pile, but our pile is quite large so I don’t think it has an negative impact. However, when we’re preserving our citrus harvest each year and have several 5 gallon buckets of peels, those get composted by themselves because there’s just too much. I use that compost to fill in low spots in our yard.