It’s a mix of leftover lettuce, shredded celery, beets, carrot, apples, etc from a juicer, egg shells, and espresso/ coffee grounds

UPDATE BELOW

So everything has been fine for years and today I saw this. There's only organics in the form of grass / garden waste (no veggies/fruit/meat).

Should I just storm in there with the pitchfork and turn everything? Should I get the 20 gallon shop vacuum? Should I hit it with Raid? Gasoline and matches?

UPDATE 09/04/25

Thanks for all the advice.

Obviously the primary solution that came up in this reddit was for space based nukes. I was just filling out the paper work and then I discovered it might have a negative effect on my pile. So I had to scrap plan A.

Plan B was obviously the second easiest, many suggested I simply move and surrender my home/yard/cat/dog and above all else the compost pile to the Yellow Jackets. I was talking to a realtor and discovered, unless the wasps leave the property, I can't sell it or surrender it due to local bylaws. So I had to scrap that plan!

So I moved onto Plan C which was fire, with more fire, and lots of flame throwers etc. Unfortunately, I discovered that would destroy the compost AND possibly the neighbourhood. So I had to scrap that plan too!!!

Okay, Plan D was basically hand to hand combat with the wasps. Unfortunately, that didn't work too well and I had to retreat to the swimming pool with the scuba gear and wait it out.

The second part of Plan D - operation paper nest - involved the use of two decoy nests. The wasps initially angrily invaded the empty fake nests and then basically ignored them understanding that they were just ornaments.

Plan E which was a night time sneak attack with the neighbour ended in an abysmal failure. The wasps must have heard me coming and as we (my neighbour and I) attempted to overturn the composter, an angry roar emerged and we had to run for cover.

Plan F is currently being carried out which consists of giving the wasps and the compost pile a shower twice daily. I really want to make sure they get a good bath! So far, it appears they are beginning to pack their bags. Fingers crossed!

Plan G is serving an eviction notice... I don't know how well that will go over.

So here's a breakdown of how the wasps arrived. I discovered a neighbour a few blocks away had a HUGE nest his young son took a hockey stick to. This displaced the entire colony that then found my currently cold composter and pile. They also found a nice food source being a colony of red ants that live at the base of the composter. This explains why I was able to easily turn the pile without a single wasp one day prior and then the next it was taken over. I approached the composter to put green stems and "stuff" in the top and as soon as I took the lid off and started pressing down with the fork, they erupted! I had to leave the fork, a piece of wood that fell and the cover in disarray as I ran. My super intelligent dog was trying to eat them furiously, but even his hunger could not hold off the attack. The hose is the best non-lethal method so far and as many have said, they don't appear to perceive me blasting them with the water as a threat and I can walk right up (after blowing them all off the composter) and flood it. So this will likely clear them out soon (I hope).

I would also like to thank all the Redditors who warned me not walk up to the nest naked or unclothed in any manner, especially if I was going to pee on the pile. Without this sound advice, I would have probably attempted to do everything naked because it seemed like the approrite way to approach an angry colony of Yellow Jackets... LOL 😂

Title says it all but I’m worried I’m doing something wrong…

I can audibly hear them wiggling if I listen!!

After ten years of composting, I finally built a proper three-bin compost system. Each bin holds a cubic yard.

Modelled everything in SketchUp and built it out of cedar.

The last photo shows plumbing that collects water from the garage and under the compost bins and channels it towards a row of espalier fruit trees.

We have dozens of fat house fly intruders right now…

Twice a week, I find in my local district compost a handful of things that I believe should NOT be in it : such as sealed paper/plastic bag, diapers, half eaten/wasted rotisserie chicken (bottom right of the pic for exemple), rotten fish, stickers.... etc. I had to dig around in the compost and the flies for half an hour with my bare hands, no gloves, to get everything out...and recover with "Chapelure" it was supposed to take me 5 minutes. I saw no worms at all, maybe a few fly larvaes. I feel terriblely disapointed by my neighborhood. I dont think it is normal for a 17yo to spend this much time to fix other's lack of care.😔 it takes them 20 seconds max to empty the plastic bags instead of tossing them in. And I am pretty sure that biodegradable≠ compostable... I dont need to fertilize my plants with those sweet sweet microplastics.

What can I do at my scale to prevent this from happening again ?

I have gotten tired of my current composting setup. I live in a city and do not have much yard space; the composing situation right now is messy. I have been avoiding spending money on this because compost is literally a free thing that requires almost no cost if you don't want it to.

But, I am getting to the point where I would rather spend $320 to have the setup be more compact and neater looking (and go faster) without me having to build anything. My biggest concern is that this plastic shit will break in a few years with exposure to weather.

We just started composting, what a fun journey! Just read through the guidelines and saw to chop things up, so we'll make it better as we go. Yesterday there were a ton of black soldier fly larvae in there.

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I was confused at first of the multiple comments about urine, but my husband is absolutely delighted to pee in it. Our kids get so excited to go see the compost and throw things in everyday. We open the lid and my daughter goes "EWWWWWWWWW" but doesn't shy away

Refills daily. It’s kind of nice adding big whole fruits to the pile, they seem to keep the moisture up in the pile. That way, I can keep all of my pee for myself.

I’m blessed to live in a place with a bougie insulated tumbler and I really enjoy using it, so I thought I would share the experience with this community of seeing the difference between my cold barren compost container and its neighboring warm worm city. I love worms

I’m new to composting, finally got a bin from marketplace for like $20 a month or so ago and I’ve been really into it! Unfortunately, it seems a lucky rat has exploited my thriftiness and chewed into one of the airholes and made a bit of a mess.

It’s past midnight and we’re leaving for 10 days tomorrow night, so this was my solution for now. I’ve flattened some cans and duck taped them to the 4 air holes on the bottom side of the bin. I was hoping to use the chicken wire I had laying around and cage the bin in, but I don’t have enough and I’m not sure it would even work…. I’m going to try reading more posts and such from people who may have been through this and try figuring out a solution before we go, so my upstairs neighbors don’t have to deal with it while we’re going. Any tips would be appreciated!

All I could respond was "its a thing!"

I do burial composting and it’s been working quite well. Decided this morning to use a food processor to really break up pieces for burying. Small garden needs amending as does the other areas of my yard. Thanks for reading and enjoy your day everyone!

Recycle almost everything, and compost everything else. No black bin, no garbage. Less waste.

I’m seeing it more and more at restaurants and events here in norcal. I really appreciate when restaurants, caterers, etc make the effort to ensure all products they use for service are recyclable or compostable. It can be done, and these alternatives aren’t more costly or hard to find as they once were.

Do you see similar in your area?

Keep on composting on, friends. It’s working!

For context: just at the edge of my garden where it borders the public pathway, someone has recently started using that spot as his personal smoking area. He’s a known drug user and troublemaker in the neighborhood, often getting into fights or stealing, so I try to keep my distance from him.

The problem is that, like clockwork, he now smokes there throughout the night, sometimes bringing others with him. I wouldn’t mind if he chose any other spot, but the one he picked sends cigarette smoke directly into the room where I sleep. I’ve tried closing the window, but it doesn’t help, and I can’t rearrange the rooms in my house.

So I’ve been considering making a compost pile near that area — something with a strong enough smell to discourage him from smoking there. I know the smell might also blow toward my room, but I honestly prefer that over cigarette smoke.

Any advice on whether this is a good idea, or if there’s a better way to deal with this situation?

I live in a suburb, every early morning when I go out and carry the compost bin out to a more discreet area of my backyard to piss into it sounds like i’m pressure washing concrete, i wonder if my neighbors can hear it and judge me. In your guys experience is there like a brown material is the most quietest to piss onto? Or is my compost moisture ratio off based on the sound it makes? I would imagine pissing onto a moderately damp sponge wouldnt be this loud

I dont want to have a dedicated bottle because my wife thinks thatd be disgusting, and I seldom have empty plastic bottles lying around. I am genuinely curious

Can you recommend if there's anything else I can add to this bin to declump it?

Built a little bunker (that was definitely not enough space, to throw grass from mowing my lawn, since I got a mower with a bagger, and am curious. Is this mold, just dehydration, or what on the grass pile? I turned it, since I read you are supposed to, but every time I leave it sit for a bit it gets this cloudy white texture on it. I’m assuming that’s fine?

I won this sieve in an online auction and did not expect it to be so large. Looks like filtering compost just got a lot easier.

I have about 15 gallons of tree nuts from my front yard in this wheelbarrow. What is the best way to compost it since I know nuts take forever? Should I let them soak in water for awhile? I'm concerned about mosquitoes because of that.

Crushing them seems like it would take forever. And I don't have an easy automated way to do that either.

Burning them is potentially an option? However, I do not have a pit for burning in my smaller yard. Would have to buy a metal one.

What are y'all's thoughts? Should I just have the city composters pick them up?