Are Compost Bins Supposed to Smell? How to Prevent Odors

Are compost bins supposed to smell? Nope. If your compost bin is repulsive to be around or if you’re starting to get complaints from neighbors, something is off. Composting is a natural way to recycle organic materials, including food scraps, grass clippings, dry leaves, and more. Composting breaks these materials down into a rich dirt (sometimes referred to as “black gold”!) that can then be used to improve soil health. It’s a way way more effective and beneficial way to dispose of waste than simply throwing it in the garbage bin! 

But bad smells coming from your outdoor compost heap or kitchen compost bin can be enough to discourage anyone from taking advantage of the many benefits of the composting process. Thankfully, it’s usually not too hard to determine WHY you’re experiencing compost pile smells or how to fix them. 

Let’s jump into a few more of the benefits of composting and how you can mitigate a smelly compost pile to take full advantage of this valuable decomposition process. 

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Why Should You Compost?

Is composting really worth it? Here are a few reasons why you should consider sticking with your compost pile..

Composting Restores the Soil

Modern farming has degraded the soil immensely. By breaking down organic matter, a healthy compost pile restores the soil through the process of decomposition and helps to revitalize the land. Healthier soil also allows us to rely less (or not at all) on chemical fertilizers.

Composting Reduces Waste

Instead of throwing your food waste and other kitchen scraps into a plastic bag that ends up in a landfill, why not re-use it in a way that actually helps the earth – and eventually our health? Composting is a great way to reduce your trash waste, and it’s not hard to do. Depending on your trash service, it could even save you money on having to pay to have excess trash removed each week. (Obviously, not everything can be easily composted, but composting has cut our trash usage down significantly.)

Composting Supports Biodiversity

Composting also supports the environment needed for beneficial microbes, earthworms, and other insects, which all work in the soil to improve soil health. Not only do these provide a more nutrient-rich soil, but they also help aerate the soil and improve drainage so that plants can thrive. Healthier soil leads to healthier food, filled with more nutrients to nourish our bodies!

Are Compost Bins Supposed to Smell?

Compost bins should not stink. Despite being full of composted materials like kitchen waste, coffee grounds, dry grass, brown leaves, and other yard waste, when a compost pile is healthy, it will smell like rich dirt. If you notice an ammonia smell or a scent like rotting eggs or excrement, you don’t have to (and shouldn’t!) live with it.

There are a number of reasons why your compost bin might smell bad. And fortunately, it’s not usually too hard to diagnose why the odor problems are happening.

A properly balanced compost pile with the right amount of nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, and water will be able to heat up and break down properly without giving off an unpleasant smell. 

If your bin smells bad, here are some reasons why this might be happening and how you can adjust your pile to keep it healthy and stink free.

4 Reasons Your Compost Bin Smells – And How to Fix It

1. Too Much Moisture

Having too much water in your compost pile can lead to stinky smells. Fortunately, this is an easy problem to fix! 

When a compost pile has too much excess water, it reduces the available oxygen that the beneficial microbes need in order to break down the compost materials. This means that your waste takes too long to break down, and when this happens, you get that unwanted, unpleasant compost smell.

A few reasons you might find yourself with excess moisture include:

• Time of year. Excess moisture often becomes a problem in springtime or in other rainy seasons. 
• Location of your outdoor compost pile. If you built your outdoor bin in a flood area or set up your bin or compost turner right next to the house where it gets a lot of rain runoff from the roof, you may just need to move it to achieve a better moisture balance.

If your pile is too wet, try one or more of these solutions.

• Move it to a sunny area where it can dry out more quickly.
• Aerate your pile. Turn your compost each week to provide more oxygen, which will help to dry out soggy compost.
• Cover it. Of course, covering your pile all the time is not a good idea – you don’t want to block the sun! But, in especially rainy seasons, covering your pile for a bit after you turn it can prevent it from taking on more moisture.
• Add more brown material. Especially in rainy seasons, you may need to add more brown material to your pile after you turn it to achieve a better moisture content and soak up some of the liquid. Dead leaves, hay, sawdust, and wood chips can be good options.

2. Not Enough Brown Materials

Having too much green material will quickly cause your compost pile to become soggy and lead to bad odors. Most kitchen scraps are classified as green materials, so if you’re only dumping leftover foods in your compost pile, this might be the culprit leading to foul odors. Coffee grounds, fruit scraps, and vegetable scraps are all “green material”, but so are fresh grass clippings, manure, and freshly pulled weeds. 

If these make up the majority of the pile, you probably have too much nitrogen and moisture, and your compost pile may smell like ammonia. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution.

The easiest way to remedy this is simply to add some dry brown material to your pile. These carbon-rich materials will help absorb the moisture and achieve the right balance within your pile. The ideal ratio of browns to greens will differ depending on who you ask. As a general rule of thumb, some people suggest that 50% browns to 50% greens is the right balance. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be an exact science. Just start adding some brown material to your compost each time you add green material, and see how your pile responds. You may need to do a bit more or a bit less.

Shredded newspaper, wood chips, dry pine needles, straw, dry leaves, and egg cartons are all carbon-rich brown compost options that will balance out the excess nitrogen from your green waste.

3. Not Enough Oxygen

If your compost pile smells like rotting eggs, you may have a lack of oxygen problem. If the oxygen level of your pile is too low, you’ll have anaerobic decomposition happening – not good! We want aerobic decomposition – meaning that there’s an adequate oxygen level to effectively break down the organic waste material. 

Fortunately, the fix for this problem is easy! The best way to solve a lack of oxygen is simply to turn your compost regularly. You can use a pitchfork, hand rake, or compost turner to do this. 

Also, as a preventative measure, when you add to your backyard compost pile, avoid packing the materials down tightly. You want a nice, loose layer of compost in order to keep enough oxygen flowing through.

4. Adding the Wrong Materials

While most kitchen scraps are great for your compost pile, foods like meat, fat, dairy products, and oil should not be composted. These foods take a very long time to break down and will result in a stinky compost problem that can smell like rotting eggs. Not only will they smell bad, but the stench can attract all sorts of animals to your pile like raccoons, dogs, rats, and maggot infestations. 

If you do have an excess of meat, fat, dairy, oil, or even bones and don’t want to throw them away, you can still totally use them to fertilize your soil. Digging a hole and burying them is a great way to enrich your soil. The bacteria will break the foods down, and they won’t stink since they’re buried. 

In fact, if you bury your compost near a tree or plant something over it a couple of months later, you’ll be surprised at how well things grow on this well-nourished earth! Planting these types of compost materials underground has been used for hundreds of years – this is actually what the Indians taught the Pilgrims to do with their fish carcasses! 

It is important to make sure that you bury your scraps deep enough. Usually a couple of feet is sufficient. If it’s too shallow, raccoons and other animals will smell it out and dig it up.

How to Keep An Indoor Compost Bin from Smelling Bad

Keeping a countertop compost bin, or a small garbage bin, or simply a compost bowl in your kitchen is a great way to collect kitchen scraps without having to take them out to your outdoor pile multiple times each day or after every meal. But like any bowl of decomposing items, if it’s not managed well, it can stink! 

Fortunately, you don’t have to have a stinky kitchen compost bin with fruit flies buzzing around it. Here are some simple ways to keep an odor-free compost bin in your kitchen.

1. Empty it Often

Most indoor compost bins won’t be able to break down as effectively as an outdoor compost pile will. It’s tricky to get the right balance of nitrogen, carbon, air, and water that compost needs when you’re using an indoor container. So, it’s essentially to make sure you take it out every few days in order to keep odors down. You may also need to rinse it out after emptying it, depending on what was inside.

2. Use Compostable Liners

Just like a trash bag keeps the inside of your kitchen trash bag cleaner, compostable liners (or compostable bags, some call them) can also help to keep the inside of your countertop bin clean so that you don’t have to wash it out all the time. They can also help to keep any smells inside of your bin. If you want to save money and use something you already have, you can also use brown paper bags to line your compost bin, since they’ll break down, too.

3. Add Brown Materials

If makes sense that kitchen compost bins are usually mostly green materials – like coffee grounds, fruit scraps, and vegetables scraps. Since compost needs a good brown to green ratio in order to effectively break down and not stink, it can be a good idea to add some brown material to your kitchen bin. A lot of kitchen scraps can also be quite wet, so this brown, dry material will help to soak up some of that moisture. 

Used paper towels, paper egg cartons, pieces of cardboard, and shredded paper or newspaper can be easy items to use. Just make sure that you’re using untreated paper that will also compost.

Keep At It!

If you’re frustrated by a stinky compost bin, don’t give up! Most of the time, the solution isn’t too hard to find and implement. And having that healthy, rich, organic compost material to add to your garden soil is totally worth it. 

Let us know in the comments if one of these solutions was helpful to you! 

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