My neighbor said my compost smelled like a dead mouse, so I changed everything

Last summer in my little Seattle apartment, I had this bucket of scraps on the balcony and thought I was doing great. Then my downstairs neighbor came up and said the smell was seeping into her window, and honestly it smelled like something had died in there. She told me to stop adding cooked food with oil and to layer in more dry browns like shredded newspaper or cardboard. Now I keep a separate bag for meat and grease (which I just toss), and I mix in a handful of shredded junk mail every time I add kitchen scraps. Has anyone else had their whole system fall apart because of a smell complaint?

2 comments

2 Comments

karenm4929d ago

Wait, are you sure you should be tossing meat and grease in the regular trash? That's going to stink up your whole bin way worse than a compost bucket ever did. I freeze meat scraps in a bag and take them out with the garbage the morning of pickup, cuts the smell a ton.

sandralee29d ago

Does freezing actually keep the grease from leaking out tho? @karenm49