FWIW My guess would be that the minute residue of non-organics on the food waste would not compare to the airborn stuff that will settle on your veg. garden plants.

I live on a very heavily traveled city street and the black residue deposited on my house, windows, etc, is also deposited on my plants and soil and even on my compost pile. I take every precaution to garden organically, but know that in this imperfect world, it is not possible to be 100%. I applaud your son's dedication, but he may be sweating some small stuff. The 'big stuff' is hard enough to control.

The small amount of pesticide residue you might introduce in your garden is not enough to make throwing that waste out. Compost it because if you can eat it you can compost it.

Thanks very much for your responses, borderbarb & kimmsr. You both make lots of sense to me, we'll see if my son agrees. Anyone else see any 'cons'?

Just one other thing ... don't know how old you are, but I'm in my 70's and more dependent on my kids for the heavy lifting than I like. So, I'm thinking that in preparation for the day when you son furnishes the brawn to your gardening efforts .... how does it sound to let him slowly work his way from 'fanatic' stage to 'what ever works' stage. It will happen with time, and much better if he has gotten the strict constructionism out of his system.[I'm a reformed fanatic, so know whereof I speak] And BTW, count your blessings, as I do, for a helpful son.

The composting process is the great neutralizer :-) What may go in that is less than strictly organic will come out as an organic product in that any synthetic fertilizer or pesticide traces will have been broken down into their natural elemental components. As borderbarb indicates, I think you have more to fear from any airborn particulates than from any non-organic vegetative sources and even that concern is fairly miniscule.

What shouldn't be composted is the same for labeled organically sourced materials as it is from non-organic products - stay away from fats, dairy and meat products. They of course can be composted but tend to alter the process slightly as well as attract vermin.

I like borderbarb's point! Be patient & 'plant the seeds' of your ideas, they will grow.

Keep in mind that even organic foods have been found to contain "non-organic" pesticide residues(likely from water, air & soil). Granted, it's a LOT less than conventionally grown produce, but there's no escaping the fact that it seems all we can do is minimize our exposure, not eliminate it. Absolute purity is impossible, reasonable cleanliness is not.

HTH

To me its compost all things organic except Meats. What ever you can keep out of the land fill the better. After all your not looking for a certification are you?

Farmer and gardener here, If it's just for your home use then whatever you are comfortable eating can go into your compost (with the previously stated exceptions unless you have a LOT of space to keep critters from your home, then you can bury the no-nos 2' deep and wait for them to break down) If you're selling produce as "organic" then no you cannot compost non-organics and use them in anything being sold as organic. Hope that helps. Good luck!