My kitchen bin still smells!!!

maow425

I use an open top bin in my under-sink-cupboard, and I have so far managed to keep it smell free by keeping a few (2-3) sheets of kitchen paper in the bottom of the bin, and spraying it with cheap air freshener once every couple of weeks. With the paper in the bottom, it's also really easy to see if the bag has leaked. Oh, and the bin gets emptied once a week (it's a fair size bin), and there's 5 of us - to adults and three children. When the bin gets dirty, I clean with a Zoflora solution as well. I use the Boquet (sp?) as I find it smells similar to the Asda SP air freshener (33p I think).

littlesnuggy

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but I'm currently suffering with a very stinky bin in my kitchen. A couple of weeks ago, when my OH came to take the black sack out, he found maggots crawling in the bottom of the plastic bin - we never bothered with the flap-lid thing, as it kept falling off, but as I assumed the maggots came from a fly getting into the rubbish, I decided to keep the lid on. Now though, this seems to be 'incubating' the rubbish and making it stink! When I've put things in, I can literally feel the warmth in the bin - also seems to have condensation forming on the underside of the lid (and joy, I think I spotted some mould!)

Of course, it REALLY hasn't helped that the council workers decided to strike on our refuse collection day - it was getting bad enough by Wednesday (having been there for a week), but its now going to stay there another 4 days! I live in a flat, there is no communal bin area or anywhere I can put the bags outside until the collection day on Wednesday.

What can I do, short of flytipping it somewhere? I plan to clean the whole bin out thoroughly (probably with the shower!) on Wed after the stinky bag has been put out, but what can I do in the meantime? Tip a load of bicarb in maybe?

Any advice really appreciated, thank you!

Magentasue

I don't have this problem and I only empty the bin every week or so but I never put food in it. I have a compost caddy that I empty every day and tins, cartons etc that can be recycled are washed and squashed and put in a small bin that also gets emptied every day. Anything foody that can't be composted or recycled - tetrapaks spring to mind - get rinsed and put in the bin. When full, I empty it, spray with cleaner, wipe round and put a new liner in.

littlesnuggy

Magentasue wrote: »

I don't have this problem and I only empty the bin every week or so but I never put food in it. I have a compost caddy that I empty every day and tins, cartons etc that can be recycled are washed and squashed and put in a small bin that also gets emptied every day. Anything foody that can't be composted or recycled - tetrapaks spring to mind - get rinsed and put in the bin. When full, I empty it, spray with cleaner, wipe round and put a new liner in.

Do you empty this to a compost heap in your garden, or into a public bin somewhere?? I don't have a garden, so I don't have anywhere to put food waste but in the bin. And my council doesn't do food waste recycling. All cans, jars and plastic bottles go in the recycling bin which smells fine!

Nicki

Yuk! Could you maybe take the bag of rubbish to the tip yourself so it is out of the house, leaving you able to clean the bin thoroughly? We've had to do this on a couple of occasions when we've missed the collection for some reason but we live in a city and the tip is only a couple of miles away.

For deodorising I tend to put half a tumble drier sheet in the empty bin and the bin liner on top. Also wash the lid out every week after its emptied, and try not to put smelly stuff in the bin until just before its emptied (so cook fish the night before bin day and put the scraps in just before its emptied, and if I let food go past the point where its safe to use, leave it in the fridge anyway until bin day) Some people freeze their food scraps in a carrier bag as they go along, and take the full carrier out on bin day and sling it then to avoid food going off in the bin over the course of the week.

Magentasue

littlesnuggy wrote: »

Do you empty this to a compost heap in your garden, or into a public bin somewhere?? I don't have a garden, so I don't have anywhere to put food waste but in the bin. And my council doesn't do food waste recycling. All cans, jars and plastic bottles go in the recycling bin which smells fine!

Yes, I'm lucky there. I have a compost bin in the garden. Also the council provide three wheelie bins - one for compostable. Could you keep a small bin for food waste that you empty daily?

butler_helen

Hi all,

I'm on a mission to find the 'odd smell' which is in my house and I've cleaned the bin. It STANK :eek: therefore I now want to keep it smelling nice... aside from educating my OH in taking any loose items from the bottom when he sees them... what can I stick in the bin to make it smell nice?

Would those 'odor bin' thingys be worth buying?

I've so far cleaned it with zoflora and cleaned every inch so it sparkles... any ideas would be very welcome! :j

H

Butterfly_Brain

Empty every day and sprinkle with bicarb - I personally hate bins so I use an old carrier bag and put t in the bin as soon as it's full

butler_helen

oki poki so just sprinkle the bicarb in the bottom?? We empty every other day because it's massive and there's only two of us.

Mankysteve

Cat litter at the bottom of the bin helps also.