Help with Overwhelming Outside Garbage Bins

If you are going to throw out meats and things that will attract flies, throw it in a ziplock and freeze it, then just throw it in the bin when you take the cans out.

I live in Texas, obviously ridiculous heat is just part of it. Like the others have mentioned, ziplock food waste. It will help.

If I know I have a bag of trash that could be a big issue (like the garbage after rib night). I'll also double bag that trash. I make sure to put the full bag upside down in the new bag to try and cover up exposed holes.

Add a little bleach to the trash cans when you clean then out. I also make sure to leave them open to air out and dry while the can is empty.

Make sure you have lids for the trash cans and keep them closed this will also assist a bit with flies.

We also compost which is helpful for the trash and our garden...but I can see where composting isn't for everyone.

I double bag our trash. I take the regular kitchen trash bag and put into a big contractors bag. 2 kitchen bags will fit into a contractors bag. No smell.

The rotted food is what is causing the stench. Once that plastic gets dirty is is hard to bet the smell out. You could try spraying a soap and bleach mixture in there, spraying it out and then air dry in direct sun with the lid open. Then place some newspaper in the bottom, to make sure it is totally dried out.

If you do not have a food disposal, then you can either, make sure whatever rotted food you throw out is double bagged.. Or place it in the freezer until the night before trash day and then throw it away.

Also washing any food containers of food will also help.

As you can imagine, it is always hot here. I do not have a disposal, so I have to throw out food stuff the night before or double bag that stuff. It works pretty well.

Since we are supposed to recycle, those food containers and cans have to be washed or at least rinsed before they are placed in their special collection bins, so my recycle bin still looks pretty good after all of these years with really no odors.

I compost all of our food waste, so there is nothing smelly going into the trash, except for cat litter. Composting makes a huge difference, the kitchen garbage can never gets smelly.

I live in Texas...so while today it's a cool front...we deal with months of 100 + degrees. I have honestly never had that problem. How long is your trash sitting in the bin? In the summer, NO ONE takes their trash out, until the morning of trash day. If we have anything that would be stinky, we throw it in the freezer. Honestly, we don't even usually do that, since we have pick up twice a week. We don't really throw away any meat. If we did, it would go in the freezer until the morning of pickup. This is just something we know down here, because we deal with it every year...you can not leave trash in the trashcan for hours and days.

Once the garbage truck comes, take the bins, splash some bleach and water in there. Let it sit for a few hours, rinse and let dry in the sun. I assume you bag all your trash but bags can tear. The Glad Force Flex bags work well for us, they don't puncture as easily.

When it's empty spray it down inside with a good disinfecting spray like Lysol or a spray bottle with bleach water in it. Scrub it out with pine sol.

Do you bag your trash in kitchen trash bags? Then take it out? Or just dump the trash into the can piece by piece? I'd make sure to use the indoor trash bags in the indoor cans so the outdoor cans will stay cleaner too.

I buy larger black trash bags at Lowes. A normal allowed out door trash can is 33-34 gallons. I buy the contractors black bags that are 45 gallon. They fit in the outdoor trash can's wonderful and they fold over the outside super easy. They are bigger than the can and that is what makes them so easy to manage.

They are also thicker than the normal black trash bag since they are made for construction debris.

I never have any issues with my cans being dirty because the truck comes to pick up my trash and they simply gather the top of the black trash bag with all the white trash bags inside and pull it up and the trash is all in one huge bag. I don't have to clean my can, it's already clean.

When the trash is in the black trash can waiting to be picked up, IF, IF, IF a bag broke open or we had thawed meat go bad, something that is extra stinky we can take the part of the trash bag off the top, the part folded over the top, and fold it over the top of the trash inside. It is another barrier to the smell.

But as I said, it's been over 100 here for a few weeks and we just don't have any problems with smell as a general rule. The white trash bags we buy are name brand. Those cheap ones do not do anything. When it comes to trash bags, you get what you pay for. The cheaper bags do not save you money. They break and tear and get holes in them if you breath crooked. Buying a good quality trash bag is the cheaper way to go.

Freeze anything you think that may become stinky or smelly, and then the very same day of pick up, at the last minute, throw it into the trash can.

A. :)

I compost almost all of my food waste, so that gets it out of the kitchen and into a bin in the yard, where it turns into great soil for outdoor gardens and flower pots. I run a quick knife through things like banana peels and melon rinds to put them into smaller pieces. I don't like to use the garbage disposal because it puts a strain on my septic system and costs me more money for more frequent pumping.

There are a few things that can't go in there (meat, dairy, citrus) so those are bagged and double-bagged. Baking soda is cheap and helps with the odors. I used to have a big trash can that got picked up once a week (a service we have to pay for), but I switched because I was recycling so much and it didn't pay. So now I go to the town dump a couple of times a week with a small bag on my way to do other errands. But when I did have the big can, I filled it periodically with the hose and a half a box of baking soda and let it soak. You can safely dump it out because baking soda is not harmful like bleach is.

I find that really clean recyclables don't attract bugs - you can run the glass and cans through the dishwasher if the labels are off (otherwise the glue from the labels clogs up the little holes in the arm that spins around. Otherwise, fill a large pot or the sink with hot water and a good squirt of grease-cutting dish detergent, soak everything well, and rinse. I let it drip dry in the dishwasher rack even if I'm not running those things through the wash cycle - it gets them out of the way. Then out they go. Even a small amount of water inside an open can is attractive to female mosquitos who lay their eggs in stagnant (even 2 day old) water. Mosquito control told us to be sure to empty flower pots and kids' buckets but also watch for bottle caps and small things that hold enough water for a mosquito.

We also have a dog so we are collecting one or 2 little bags of doggie poop every day. We tie a knot in the little bags, and then put them in a plastic bag we hang on a hook in the garage. I've notice that attracting a few flies too, so now I make sure I use a small bag that can be knotted after 2 or 3 "deposits" and then taken out to the dump.

I wonder if a spritz of white vinegar would annoy the flies? Not wine or cider vinegar which might attract them. If you get fruit flies in the kitchen (we've seen a big increase since the heat hit), put a small dish of cider or wine vinegar in a bowl or even a large cap from a bottle you're done with, and drop a few drops of dish liquid in it. Put it near the sink or the fruit basket. The scent attracts the flies and the dish soap increases the surface tension of the liquid so that any flies that get close also get stuck and drown.

And I'd put the can as far from the house as possible. Make sure it's not something that animals can open. We have found raccoons and even squirrels to be extremely resourceful.

The other thing you could look at is more than one smaller can instead of one larger can. Fill one can in day or two, then it doesn't get opened again until trash day - that may keep more odor inside. Start on a second can after a few days. I don't know if your trash pick-up allows for that though. Some towns have specific animal-proof cans that can be picked up by the truck itself - they've gotten away from workers lifting the cans.

Good luck with this! Let us know what foolproof system you come up with!

Don't put it outside. Put garbage bags in a bigger bag, so double. Anything that can create a smell, freeze until garbage day.