Same old silly advice from people who never make compost. Unless you use only Onion peelings and citrus (which would be a problem) then you can add them with no worries at all. We put everything which comes out of the kitchen, (with the proviso that it is bio-degradable) on to our heap and it all rots down beautifully.
The worry these soi-dit experts have is that these things make the heap too acidic, well if that is a worry then just add a sprinkling of Lime.
Obviously the same rules apply to these things as to all other, do not use if diseased.

I always add my citrus and onion peelings to my heaps along with everything else that will rot down. So there is no problem.

I am the same as the other two, everything from the kitchen goes in the compost bin except foodstuff, have done it for years with no problem.

Great, many thanks all.

I hate to disagree but like you, I read that we should exclude onions from composting. I asked on this site and was advised to to ignore that advice. When I started to include onions in the mix, my worms became almost non-existent. Of course this was over many months but now that I exclude onions my compost bin is again full of worms.

Bulba and I put all our onion peelings into the compost, you'd need to be using an awful lot of onions to cause a problem. As long as you are composting all your raw kitchen waste there won't be a problem.

I also put these things into the compost bin :)

I have that many worms that I often have to pass some on to gardening friends who cant get their bins going. so I'm not sure why onions affected some people and not others.

As I said at the beginning, it is a matter of balance. Too much of any one kind of material is going to be problematical. Pure grass mowings take a fair amount of work to get to rot down.
Never had any trouble getting worms into the heap, except in the one year when we had a long drought and the stuff got too dry. They soon returned when it rained though.
It might be different in one of these closed container type compost systems. Never used one so not sure how they work.
And for those who do end up with compost which has not worked, simple.....dig a trench in the garden and bury it! You will be amazed at the speed with which it will disappear in to the soil.

I think I'll have to have another go with the onions then since everyone else agrees that they are ok. I don't like throwing the skins/ends in with the rubbish anyway and would prefer to compost all veg waste.
i love these questions on composting and am fascinated by the almost magical process of turning green waste into lovely compost.

Merlin I too am amazed at what can be gained from doing so little. I haven't had anything other than good quality compost in the past, and by including citrus and onion peelings
My question was raised due to someone telling me that by adding the peelings in question, the worms would indeed go elsewhere
But I just hate throwing away these peelings and I was even considering setting up a smaller bin just to include citrus and onion peelings
I think I'll start to include them once again but make sue I add a good balance of other materials too
Thanks for taking the time to answer all

Regards John

I too have no problems and have always added that type of material to my bins, as said its just a case of giving an assortment of layers and the occasional turn, all my bins are the closed in type.....

I'm not sure what is meant by a 'closed in' bin. I have two plastic: one with holes in the side and an open base; the other is a council one with a little door at the bottom plus an open base. So I think mine are not closed in.

Merlin if they have lids they are closed in. I think the ones you have described are closed in.