GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Backyard composting soon will be legal in the city, so long as certain rules are followed. But are those rules too restrictive?

In particular, some Grand Rapids city commissioners on Tuesday, Aug. 27, questioned whether residents who compost should be required to purchase a commercially-manufactured bin. After all, some people already compost in the city illegally using homemade, wooden bins.

But not everybody who fancies themselves as master gardeners and expert carpenters may be capable of constructing a bin that doesn't smell or attract rodents, Mayor George Heartwell noted. So the composting legalization set for City Commission adoption Sept. 10 still would prohibit homemade bins and open composting piles.

"(Using a commercially-manufactured bin) is the simplest, easiest, neighborly way to compost," City Manager Greg Sundstrom said. "If someone has their own homemade bin, we're not going out looking for them. (Enforcement) is only on a complaint basis."

RELATED: 5 rules for composting in Grand Rapids

What do you think?

Second Ward City Commissioner Rosalynn Bliss, who pushed to end the city's composting ban, called the proposed rules "a good place to start" and suggested they could be re-evaluated next year. Rebecca Finneran, an educator with Michigan State University Extension in Kent County, said the city should not rule out homemade bins for the future.

Some of the commercial bins recommended by the city still could attract rodents since they sit on the ground, Finneran said. And as long as the compost pile gets watered and turned over, a bin with an open top should not pose any problems, she said.

Besides, recycling wooden pallets into a compost bin is green behavior, Finneran said, and wooden pallets can be built bigger than store-bought bins.

"Personally, I find the commercial bins too small (for the amount of organic material I compost)," she said. "I think it's wise to leave the door open for future growth. As people gain skills with composting they're going to want to have bigger, less limiting compost bins. This is a good place to start though."

Matt Vande Bunte covers government for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at mvandebu@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.