I got a Chip Drop a month ago, and last week I got a citation from the city for having a pile of mulch in my driveway. The reason they gave was that it will attract rats. I will bite my tongue and not point out that the overflowing trash cans at the grocery store and apartment buildings are much more likely to do that than a pile of wood chips.
A neighbor must have reported me and my pile as unsightly, because this isn’t about preventing plague outbreaks. Mostly that makes me sad. The glaring street lights spewing light pollution and disrupting bird migration aren’t unsightly in the eyes of the city. Neither are the invasive plant species in yards, or the bare red mulch sprayed with RoundUp every month to keep it plant-free.
No, those things are normal and fine. What is unsightly is the untidiness of real (if small) ecosystems. Dead plant stems, brush piles, leaf litter. I understand people’s desire to see beauty in their yard, in their neighborhood. We just have different ideas of beauty.
I’m moving my mulch pile, cartload by cartload, to the backyard where it can’t offend my neighbors’ eyes. I’m sure the rats won’t find it there.
A Gardener's Lot 