Help me keep my compost pile

[Skylark]

I live in a rented apartment on the second floor of a house. When I moved in in May, my landlady told me I was most welcome to have a compost pile. She showed me where on the side of the house she would prefer it be, and I assumed she told her elderly mother, my downstairs neighbor, about it, too. (My landlady lives 15 minutes away.) I've been putting my food scraps in it for the past four months.

Today, I came home from the grocery store to find my compost pile and the wire mesh surrounding it had been moved to the trash. There was a note on my door from my downstairs neighbor saying the next-door neighbors had complained, and I should use the trash cans.

I want to keep my compost pile, but I don't want it to be a big tug-of-war between me and the neighbors, especially if my downstairs neighbor gets caught in the middle. I want to use the compost next spring when I put in a garden. (My landlady also approved a garden.)

Advice?

 

[kibbleforlola]

Just tell them your landlady approved it, it's not their property, and they can shove it. Tell your neighbors if you come home and find it trashed again, you will consider it theft of property and you will call the cops.

 

[silva]

Landlady wouldn't approve it if the neighbors complain, I bet! You should have been informed.
Maybe you put a lattice surround around the mesh? It would look like what people use to hide garbage cans.
That was really inconsiderate, and the mother shouldn't have been used a go between.

 

[Swamp-Dweller]

Maybe instead of an open pile you could get something like one of these?

http://m.lowes.com/mt/www.lowes.com/pl__0__s?Ntt=compost+bins

 

[Calliegirl]

Maybe talk to the neighbors and ask what type of barrier/fence would satisfy them. You could also offer a few veggies from the future garden, then they'll feel like they have a stake in the compost pile.

 

[RabbitLuvr]

Talking to the neighbor to find out exactly why they complained is probably the only way to know how to keep it. If its the way it looks, you could get a fancy bin that's made to look nice. When I had bins, they never smelled, but they did draw some insects, which could also be a complaint.
It's possible they complained based on a perception they may have, not an observed reality, and in that case I don't know how you could change their minds.

I am baffled that they would complain to your landlady about what's happening on her property. Where I live, people do what they want on their own property, and neighbors don't really have any right to do anything against that unless there are laws being broken. My neighbors have a hideous compost and brush pile in their back yard, but it's not in any violation. I just don't look over there.

 

[Forster]

Does it smell?