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I live in pretty close proximity to a few other people. I love composting but I've been confronted by a couple neighbors about the smell coming from my compost bin. It doesn't bother me all that much but maybe I'm more used to it than they are?

Compost done correctly does not stink. Click on your topic and scroll down to "similar topics" and there are some good remedies. Or go to a "how to compost" site and you can see how to make compost without the smell. I love my compost and no one has ever complained so I must be doing something right.

Generally, if it smells, it needs more dry browns and needs more air -- turn more often. In a pinch I just layer saved toilet and paper towel tubes --> more browns and air in the tubes.

Agree, not only should a properly managed compost pile not stink, it should have no odor at all, except for maybe a slight earthiness.

Have you read the intro to composting threads at the beginning of this section?

Being stinky suggests too much "greens" / not enough "browns," staying too wet, and/or not enough aeration. Correct the problems and the smell will go away.

I've also found with neighbors that the less they know, the better. If you tell a neighbor what your cute wild box turtle did that morning, by evening they'll be blaming it for burrowing into their mulch. Or if they get one mosquito bite, they'll blame your birdbath.

If you are pretty sure your compost is clean earthy scented and not wafting wet rot or moldy celery or mushy onions in their direction then you just have neighbors who need a hobby.

At least they aren't complaining about the critters that live in the compost? Don't tell the neighbors about that either.

What I have found is that small composting is a lot less forgiving than large accumulations of stuff. If your bin(s) are under a cubic yard, you need to be extra careful about the green:brown ration and turning it more and being sure it is damp and and not soggy.

I had a winter's worth of frozen kitchen stuff all thaw in a couple of days. Everything else was still frozen for the most part so I couldn't turn them under and hid them and their attempt at putting a dumpster to shame. Solution for me was a lot of non-shiny newspaper all ripped up (shredded would have been better but I won't buy a shredder and put the effort in). I layered the soggy, aromatic greens between layers of ripped up and crumpled up news paper. The smell dissipated within a day or two.

Since then, I tend to make my compost a little brown heavy.... a little mulchy is far better than a little stinky to me, even if I am losing a little seed and pathogen killing temperature.

If you get the balance close to right, give it enough air and water, turning over a compost pile smells like you flipped over a half rotted log in a damp forest, and maybe some other sort of less pleasant earthy smells depending on how fresh the batch is.

Good luck with it.

thanrose wrote:.... then you just have neighbors who need a hobby.

They already have a hobby, harassing their neighbors.

Try adding clean straw (straw) It works quickly to get rid of slimed green. I stopped putting eggs shells in unless washed. Don't let dairy or meat sneak in.

We've had discussions of egg shells here at various times. Some people go to elaborate lengths cleaning and drying and maybe even powdering them. Some of us, like me, just throw them in or at most crunch them up with our hands. Doesn't seem to cause any problems in my compost pile.

I also do put dairy in my pile. Not very much, because I rarely have any left over, but a little bit doesn't seem to hurt anything.

Meat is a no-no.

A poorly managed pile without a trace of meat or dairy can smell pretty bad, whereas a well managed pile with minimal amounts (including unwashed eggshells!) will have no odor whatsoever. Even complete road kill carcasses have been composted successfully. It's all in how the pile is managed.