Neighbors Frustrated With Compost Business Attracting Bugs To Area

James Taylor is working to create a community composting business in his neighborhood, but he is getting complaints from his neighbor, Dean Heath.

Heath and his wife own two homes in a neighborhood near Pine and Denver.

They rent one of their properties to people through Airbnb and received complaints from one of their renters about a bug infestation.

"When we came and investigated that Saturday, we realized why the complaint had come,” Heath said.

Heath suspects the unwanted pests are coming from next door, where Taylor works on his compost piles.

Taylor has been collecting food scraps, peels, and coffee grounds from people in the neighborhood to create fertilizer for local gardens and to help the environment.

"Half of our trash is stuff that we could be putting into our gardens, and I think that coming up with solutions for coming up with community-driven composting like this should be something that we put on a priority,” Taylor said.

Heath talked with other neighbors and while some think it's good for the community, others are not fans of the compost piles either.

"The other neighbors that we knew on either side of us that had noticed they haven't been able to sit on their porches,” Heath said.

Taylor is using pest deterrents to get rid of the bugs.

"We don't want our neighbors to be upset with us and for the most part we have had near unanimous support from our neighbors including our nearby neighborhood association,” Taylor said.

Heath has filed a complaint with the city but has yet to hear back.