At its essence, a compost pile is just rotting organic material. As such, you might wonder if it smells bad. However, it’s actually quite the opposite. If you’re doing composting the right way, your bin shouldn’t stink at all. Instead, it should give off a more “earthy” smell. To avoid a smelly compost bin, you need to have a 1:3 ratio between green waste (food waste) and brown waste (Cardboard, sawdust, dead leaves, etc.).