S/O Garbage Cans, How to Keep them clean

[bethwc101]

We have our large garbage can we take out weekly to be picked up. Over time it has become stinky even with nothing in it, just from stuff spilling in it. How would you go about removing the stench.
I will not crawl in their with a scrub brush to get rid of the stink.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

hose and a long handled scrub brush and a bottle of bleach

 

[barkley]

hose out what can be, turn it upside down to dry-then put several opened boxes of baking soda inside (still inside their opened boxes). cover the opening with the lid and let it sit a couple of days-remove boxes of baking soda and bag up. whatever smells can be drawn out into the baking soda will-but if it's of a plastic type material it may have permeated it such it won't ever be entirely smell free.

for this reason we have a large stainless steel can that we keep lined (in the garage). household garbage (bags from the kitchen can, trash from other cans) go inside it THEN those large black plastic bags get tossed into the pickup receptacle. no odor in either.

 

[DLgal]

Simple Green. Dump it in there and add water. Let sit in the sun for an hour. Dump out and rinse. Any runoff is non toxic to plants and sewer systems.

 

[mumto3girls]

I power washed ours about a year ago. It looked really good for a while, but needs to be done again.

 

[neverlandsky]

Dawn soap and hose. Rise out recycling and put it in grocery bags before we bin.

 

[Floridaman999]

I power wash mine about twice a year or so.

 

[Meriweather]

power wash

 

[daemom]

If you can't power wash, dump some water and soap in there and take an old broom and scrub around with it--no crawling inside! LOL!

 

[goofyernmost]

I don't... they are garbage cans. I can clean them out until I turn blue and as soon as I am done I am going to throw more garbage in it. Instead of wasting all that time, how about going to a nursing home and reading to people that can no longer do that anymore. It is much more rewarding and a whole lot less of a waste of time.

 

[Pooh2]

Simple Green and an inexpensive power washer.

 

[Floridaman999]

I don't... they are garbage cans. I can clean them out until I turn blue and as soon as I am done I am going to throw more garbage in it. Instead of wasting all that time, how about going to a nursing home and reading to people that can no longer do that anymore. It is much more rewarding and a whole lot less of a waste of time.

I got a blue ribbon from the trash man just last week for my wonderfully clean cans. All my wasted time was instantly rewarded with all that recognition.

 

[Marchand63]

PineSol & hose

 

[luvsJack]

When it used to stay close to the house, I used a product I bought at Sam’s—Odo Ban. Just poured some in and added water. Let it sit or maybe a few scrubs with a broom. Pour it out. I didn’t rinse it completly because the stuff left a really good smell. I never really cared about it being clean but didn’t want the smell right beside the house.

Now that we just leave it at the end of the driveway, I don’t worry about it.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I got a blue ribbon from the trash man just last week for my wonderfully clean cans. All my wasted time was instantly rewarded with all that recognition.

 

[Nancyg56]

I spray them inside and out with Clorox cleanup and hose them down with hot water on the jet setting of my sprayer nozzle. We have a lot of trees and the bins are stored on the driveway under some of them. They get dirty from the trash, however they also get that sappy stuff from the trees and I cannot stand looking at it. I wash them several times a year. I don't consider washing them a waste of time because I figure the time is mine to spend, and if I like the result it is worth it. DH thinks it's silly, however he also does not find washing the driveway to be of value. I do because matter how much you sweep the little sticky things from the trees manage to find their way into the house. I guess I have a thing about little sticky tree mess.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

We don't put loose trash in them, we bag food/wet items in smaller shopping bags before putting them in the trash, we always keep the lids on them to keep out water, and occasionally DH hoses them out.

 

[aprilgail]

I pour some bleach in and add some water- let it soak and dump it out. I only do that if they really stink though- they are trash cans, not like they are inside or anything, they stay outside.

 

[mumto3girls]

I don't... they are garbage cans. I can clean them out until I turn blue and as soon as I am done I am going to throw more garbage in it. Instead of wasting all that time, how about going to a nursing home and reading to people that can no longer do that anymore. It is much more rewarding and a whole lot less of a waste of time.

I get what you are saying, but I think it depends on how you handle trash/recycling. We keep our cans inside the garage because otherwise the raccoons and other wildlife would be strewing our trash all over the neighborhood on a nightly basis instead of just on trash night. The door from our garage leads right into our kitchen and is the main way our family enters/exits the house. I walk past those cans multiple times per day. Additionally, one of those cans is an 80 gallon wheeled bin for recycling. We don’t have a separate bin inside so I walk the 25 feet or so from my kitchen sink to where this bin sits in the garage multiple times per day. When we have outdoor parties, that thing gets wheeled to the periphery of the party so that people can put their recyclables right into it. This also makes it stink like a brewery. Hence, power washing it once a year or so seems reasonable

 

[lorimay]

When we had them, I used a broom and Pine Sol.
Now our new city has us buy special bags and we don't use the bins anymore.
Its suppose to be saving us money on our sewer & water bill, hahaha wrong the bags are crazy expensive.
But I don't miss having to clean the bins anymore.