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Deep Clean Your Trashcan

Is there a lingering smell in your kitchen? Something a little sour, a little off even though your kitchen is clean? Then it’s probably time to tackle your garbage can! Even though your trash goes into the plastic bag, after a time odors permeate the trashcan; this is especially true of plastic trash cans as opposed to metal. In addition to the odor, food and garbage collect at the bottom of the can and the outside gets its fair share of food splatters and dirt making for an overall mess. Follow these tips to deep clean your trashcan.

Gather the Tools

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To properly clean your trash can you’ll need an all purpose cleaner, scrub brush, toilet bowl brush, and baking soda.

How to deep clean your trash can

 

Pick a Space

The easiest places to clean your trashcan are either outside or in your bathtub. But if these two places don’t work, line the floor in front of your kitchen sink with towels and use the sprayer from the sink for rinsing.

Clean it

Empty the can, dump out all the crumbs and trash from the bottom, and spray it down with a hose, shower head, sink sprayer, or bucket of water to knock of all the big debris.

Spray the outside with an all purpose cleaner and scrub. After a time the food splatters on the outside can harden and won’t come off with a wet paper towel or cleaning wipe, but the scrub brush takes care of them easily.  

 

How to deep clean your trash can

Spray the inside of the can with all purpose cleaner and use the toilet bowl brush to get the hard to reach areas. Obviously the grossest places are going to be the bottom of the can and the inside of the lid. If needed, add some hot water with the cleaner and let it soak before you start scrubbing.

How to deep clean your trash can

Dry your trashcan with towels or leave it outside to dry. Obviously you want to make sure your can is completely dry before putting a bag in it, or the old food smell will be replaced with a moldy, mildewy smell!

Keep it clean

Add a bit of baking soda to the bottom of your trashcan before you put the bag in to absorb odors. Also, wipe down the outside and inside of the lid as needed to keep the can clean. These two tips will help you go longer before needing to deep clean again.  

How to deep clean your trash can

 

Cleaning your trashcan only takes about 10 minutes. It’s a quick easy way to get your kitchen smelling fresh again!

 

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Tidy London

Monday 19th of December 2016

Hello Anne,

Fantastic article, I wonder do we really need the baking soda? I think that chemical detergents will do great job for cleaning such heavy odour.