My neighbor said my compost pile was too close to the fence and now I'm wondering if I've been doing it wrong for 3 years

He pointed out the smell was seeping into his yard and honestly it hit different because I never thought about how it affected anyone else, has anyone else dealt with a neighbor complaint about their setup?

3 comments

3 Comments

parker_hall54d ago

Honestly, is this really that big of a deal? You've been composting for three years without issue and one neighbor says something and now you're second-guessing everything. People get way too worked up about stuff like this. Compost piles aren't that serious unless you're literally dumping rotting meat in there. Move it a couple feet if it makes him happy, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it. Some folks just like to find things to complain about.

hernandez.gavin4d ago

Hold up though, I gotta say something about the neighbors complaint because there's a bit of a mixup on what's actually causing the smell. The real issue usually isn't the distance from the fence, it's more about what you're putting in the pile and how you're layering it. If it's smelling that bad after three years, you probably have too much green stuff (like kitchen scraps and grass clippings) and not enough brown stuff (like dead leaves or cardboard). I've had that same problem before and just moving it a few feet from the fence didn't fix the stink, but balancing out the green to brown ratio at like 1 part green to 2 parts brown did the trick. Also make sure you're turning it every couple weeks so it gets some air, otherwise it goes anaerobic and that's when it really gets ripe.

adam4144d ago

Oh man, tell me about it. My neighbor tried to compost once and his pile smelled so bad it attracted raccoons for like a whole summer.