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10 Tips for maintaining your garbage cans
Your trashcans are already full two days before pickup. One of them is beginning to ripen prematurely, what can you do to curb the nastiness in the future? Read on, true believer, there’s plenty of preventive action you can take:
1. Reduce Wasted Food
Where do you think those smells come from? Food in our trash tends to rot, causing unpleasant odors. It’s also responsible for most of the spills and messes in the trash bins that we have to clean out. Instead of just tossing what’s left of your nachos in the trash, throw them in the garbage disposal. For things like chicken or rib bones, tie them in plastic shopping bags. You can keep them in the freezer until trash day and avoid any unpleasantness.
2. Eliminate Odors
There’s nothing worse than having your collected refuse match the cartoonish stereotype of an overflowing trash bin. Banana peels, crushed pizza boxes and of course, that nearly visible stench. Thankfully, there are a number of methods to implement that may prevent the odors. Possibly the most common is to sprinkle baking soda over the interior surface to absorb the offensiveness. But not so well known is that the same results may be achieved with either kitty litter or dryer sheets. Take the necessary steps and you’ll achieve the dream – an odorless trash can.
3. Recycle More
The less trash you have, the less concern you’ll have for overstuffing the trashcan. How can you minimize the load? Implement a separate bin or two dedicated to recycling only. Each town has its own recycling policies, and you can likely drop off the discarded recyclables at a nearby location. Some neighborhoods have curbside pickup. Once you break down your cardboard and rinse out your plastic containers and get them into their respective bins, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much less trash you’ll be dealing with.
4. Put Holes in the Container
You probably have trash containers dedicated to the outdoors. Drilling holes in the bottom of them is an excellent idea. Why? Because by doing so, you can rinse the inside without having to physically handle the container to dump it. And if it’s exposed to the rain, it drains itself. Sure it can still get dirty and smelly, but all you need is an outdoor hose and maybe some liquid soap to clean the offender up.
5. (Don’t Miss) Trash Day!
Have you ever rushed to get your trash together only to get out to the curb just as the garbage truck is pulling away? You’re stuck with full bins for another week and the regretful certainty of greatly overstuffing them. Don’t find yourself in this situation. Set reminders on your phone or computer. If you still manage to miss a crucial pickup you may have the option to drive the trash to the dump yourself. Call to see what’s allowed.
6. Clean Weekly
After the bins have been emptied by trash pickup, take a second and rinse them out, all you need is a hose. Washing out the cans regularly will keep odors and other offensive matter from forming inside. If necessary, use a dish soap to cleanse that gross interior.
7. Name Brands
Of course, everyone wants to save a few bucks by picking up as much as they can at the dollar store. But is that where you REALLY want to buy your trash bags? The no-name brands really are notorious for tearing or breaking – they definitely can’t handle heavy duty loads. Stick with the name brands in this situation you really will save yourself some trouble.
8. Cut the Fat
If you get a ton of junk mail or even a newspaper that you really never read, put an end to their delivery, all they do is make for more trash. Find a few websites that offer tips on how to end unwanted mail solicitation, and do what you need to do to cancel the subscription to your newspaper. You’ll conserve paper and minimize waste, and that’s what we call a triumph over trash.
9. Smell on Wheels
We’ve all seen it happen. Either we’re not strong enough to lift a full trash can, or it’s so gross we do everything we can to keep our distance from it. Either way we end up dragging the heavy thing. Soon the bottom becomes worn and a large gap forms. Messiness ensues. Make it easy on everyone and get trash bins with wheels!
10. Location
City Codes may determine where you can and cannot store your trash cans. You can probably keep them in the garage, but elsewhere, like on the side of the house may be prohibited. And for good reason – they may attract any number of animals or insects. However, if you follow one or two of these steps that promote sanitation, the trashcan won’t be nearly as appealing to the unwelcome critters and you’ll have a much more pleasant job of dealing with the garbage!
