Ideally yes, chopping and shredding the waste with a good compost shredder will help decrease the time taken for waste to compost and ensure a more consistent finer texture in the end compost you achieve.

Why Should You Chop / Shred Waste?

Greater Surface Area – When you chop and shred waste you increase the surface area. Bacteria eat at the surface – the more surface to attack the faster the rate of eating. Although the maths does vary, one can approximate each cut to doubling the surface area – and doubling the speed.

Breaks Through Protective Layers – Chopping cuts through the outer protect layers such as barks, shells, peels and skins. These layers are designed to be more resistant to bacterial attack. If we cut through them, bacteria can attack the easier to digest material behind. This tends to generate heat faster and higher temperature increases the rate of further decay.

Finer Compost – Chopping/Shredding helps to ensure a finer and more consistent texture in the final product.

Food Waste – This may need to be chopped to increase the surface area of the waste for bacteria to eat.