[vron]

Hi everyone, can I safely add privet to my allotment composter or is it poisonous, would be very grateful for some info please.

[JayG]

Certainly hope not - it's been by far the most plentiful ingredient of my home compost for the last 15 years! 

I chuck the trimmings on the lawn and cut them (and the grass) together with a rotary mower to chop and mix it all together.

Anything too woody to risk your mower on should be discarded anyway as it would take too long to rot down (I realise you probably don't have lawns at your allotment!)

[vron]

Hi,  Jayg, thankyou for your reply, yes we do have a lawn on our lottie and put the grass on the composter.
The reason forasking about privet was somethind in the dark and mysterious depth of my brain that privet could not be used.
So glad it can, makes an extra carbon mix,
Thankyou

[New shoot]

All members of the ligustrum family, including privet, are mildly poisonous, but the natural rotting down process will take care of that 

[8doubles]

All members of the ligustrum family, including privet, are mildly poisonous, but the natural rotting down process will take care of that 

Also what is poisonous to one species of animal can have no effect on another. Earthworms certainly used to drag cut leaves underground to eat.
The hens would also peck the lower leaves off the hedge and eat them while standing on a nice grassy lawn

Hens are not the brightest* animals but it did no harm and they grew out of the habit.

* unless privet is a hen herbal remedy.