Warning: I tried to compost my neighbor's pumpkin and now there's a raccoon committee meeting on my porch

Ruby Roberts · 2026-09-10T08:00:34.872837+00:00

Last Tuesday I tossed a leftover Halloween pumpkin into my backyard compost bin, figuring it would break down in a week or two and help cut my food waste. By Thursday night there were four raccoons sitting on my porch railing like they were reviewing a zoning application, and one of them had dragged the pumpkin back out and halfway up the steps. I called the city compost hotline and the guy just laughed and said pumpkins are basically raccoon bait, which would have been nice to know before I made the introduction. Now I have a bin full of squash scraps and a porch that smells like a pumpkin patch mixed with wet dog. Does anyone have a compost setup that actually keeps the trash pandas out, or am I stuck burying everything like a criminal?

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Warning: I tried to compost my neighbor's pumpkin and now there's a raccoon committee meeting on my porch | Climate Action - Discusd