Industrial and community composting systems affect the welfare of invertebrates, rodents, and birds that inhabit or use composting facilities.
Composting system welfare involves both the invertebrates living within compost and the vertebrates attracted to food waste. High-temperature industrial composting effectively sterilizes biological material, killing all invertebrates within the compost mass. Community and home composting at lower temperatures supports living invertebrate communities whose welfare is uncertain but potentially significant given the numbers involved. Rodent control at composting facilities typically involves lethal methods. Enclosed composting systems that prevent rodent access eliminate the need for lethal control while reducing welfare harm from the control responses that open systems attract. Welfare-conscious composting design minimizes rodent attraction and manages without indiscriminate lethal control.