If you were to guess where the dirtiest spot in your home was, you'd say the bathroom toilet, or the washout sink, or even the indoor trash can. You'd be wrong.
The dirtiest spot in your home is your outdoor trash and recycle bins. Contracting trash cleaning services is the best way to prevent health risks and other complications from dirty trash bins.
Sure they're gross-looking, smell bad, and all it takes is one broken or leaky bag, and wow, what a mess! But your trash could be making you physically ill, and you might not even suspect it. Why is that?
The Health Risks of Dirty Trash Bins
Trash and recycle bins are ideal environments for bacteria to thrive in. Rinsing your dirty cans and bags doesn't help. You never get all the food removed, and only a little is enough to promote bacterial growth. In fact, you're adding water to the equation which encourages the growth of bacteria.
Bacterial infections can affect people in different ways and can be nasty. If you have a cut on your finger when you handle a dirty trash bin the wound can become infected. Bacteria can also be inhaled, and cause bronchitis-type infections in the lungs. If you suffer from asthma or another breathing disorder this can be dangerous.
Salmonella and listeria are often found in your trash bins, but you can't see them. Without proper cleaning, these and others can cause serious bacterial infections.
Insects thrive on trash. You'll see everything from flies and mosquitos to ants, beetles, roaches, and more coming to feed on your garbage. Insects carry diseases like West Nile, encephalitis, Lyme disease, and more.
Not only are you inviting these pests inside your home, but you're also giving them a buffet from which to live. Keeping your trash bins outside your home isn't the solution either. While you still have a perceived barrier, they can penetrate your home regardless.
Outside your home your trash bins are subjected to the weather and often become full of water, creating the perfect breeding ground for mosquitos. This stagnant water will also grow mold and mildew spores. Rinsing your trash cans isn't the best way to clean trash cans because this passive process won't remove mold and mildew.
Dirty Trash Bins Attract Animals
Vermin like rats, mice, raccoons, and even stray dogs are attracted to trash. Inside your garage, you might be safe from raccoons and dogs getting to your trash, but the rodents will most certainly find a way in.
Outside your home, these vermin are creative in getting inside your trash bins. If you miss a pickup or generate a lot of trash and your bins overflow the issue is magnified. They also transmit diseases like malaria, typhus, and rabies.
Environmental Concerns for Dirty Trash Bins
Your dirty trash bins are an environmental hazard as well as being harmful to you and your family. Overflowing trash is the easiest way to cause harm to the environment. If a bag breaks or an animal gets into it the trash is spread by wind and rain.
Physical trash can pollute the water, causing fish and wildlife to suffer. Liquid trash can also enter the local water runoff and cause more harm, not just to the wildlife, but by entering the water supply. You may be responsible for only a small portion of this, but if everyone is adding a little the sum of the whole is huge.
Another hidden danger of dirty trash bins is air pollution they can cause. Those disgusting odors coming from your dirty bins contain greenhouse gases like methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide.
These gases can cause serious respiratory issues, and when absorbed through the lungs can travel to other parts of the body and cause harm.
Municipal Concerns for Dirty Trash Bins
Often dirty trash bins are a harbinger of doom for your neighborhood. They contribute to local pollution, spread disease, and look bad too. If you walk down a city street with overflowing garbage bins and a terrible smell, you aren't going to walk that way again. That's why businesses need to keep a clean exterior.
The same goes for your neighborhood. Dirty, overflowing trash bins make the neighborhood look bad. Visitors, and more importantly, potential home buyers don't want to see these things. They give the impression of disrepair and neglect, and in some cases may make people feel unsafe, ultimately impacting your property value.
How Not To Clean a Trash Bin
This may come as a surprise to many, but rinsing, and even using chemicals isn't the best way to clean your trash bins. First, you don't have hot water because you're probably using the hose. According to the World Health Organization, it takes temperatures above 140 degrees to kill bacteria and viruses.
Sure you could boil some water and use that to scrub out your bins, but the water will cool too fast. You don't want to start mixing bleach or other chemicals either. These have their own respiratory effect, and mixing chemicals can be deadly, so please don't.
If you try cleaning them on your own you are subjecting yourself to all the dangers listed above. You will be touching the dirty containers, the trash leftover or stuck in the bins, breathing all the foul air and fumes of any chemicals you might decide to use. It isn't wise.
Also, you will be doing all this in your driveway, yard, or in the street in front of your home. This practice spreads the dirt, bacteria, viruses, and any other pollutants your trash bin has collected.
This spread will eventually find its way into the ecosystem, polluting water and harming fish and wildlife. You don't want to be part of the pollution problem. If you're doing it on your lawn it could kill your grass.
The Benefits of Trash Cleaning Services
The best way to clean your trash bin is to hire a trash cleaning service. A good trash cleaning service will come to your home the same day as your trash and recycle pickup with curbside service. You won't have to drag them out again for cleaning.
Their trucks are specially equipped to take your bins and lift them inside a protective hood. Once in the hood, pressurized water heated to 200 degrees is used to power clean the inside and the outside of your trash bins.
The spray heads are 360-degree nozzles that will get into every nook and cranny of your trash bins. The heated water is mixed with a disinfectant to kill the germs and return a truly clean bin.
After cleaning and disinfecting your trash bin will be deodorized. Many companies offer a variety of scents so you can choose a pleasing smell to replace the awful trash smell. After cleaning you can expect your trash bins to be placed in a specific location of your choice.
One of the best features of using a service to clean your bins is they are eco-friendly. They take all the dirty water and trash with them when they leave. Instead of dumping out dirty water and chemicals in your driveway, their systems are designed to collect all the water, dirt, and debris in a separate tank which is then disposed of properly.
How Much Does It Cost?
Hiring a company to clean your garbage bins isn't as expensive as you might think. They will offer a one-time cleaning for around $30 per bin. This might be good if you're a neat freak and your trash bins aren't in bad shape.
However, you can sign up for scheduled service either bi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually. Pricing is much more attractive when you sign up for multiple cleanings. You could pay $30 for one clean, or sign up for three cleans and pay only $14 per clean. You can sign up for more and save even more too. It's almost a no-brainer.
Commercial Availability
Trash cleaning services can be contracted for businesses, as well as, for homeowners. Many high-end apartment complexes employ these services as a benefit of residing with them. Restaurants can generate a lot of food waste, and they also can benefit from using this service.
Hospitals, schools, country clubs, and more can create a cleaner, safer environment by using these services. It doesn't really matter what kind of business or commercial property you run, the best way to clean a trash can is to hire a professional trash cleaning service.
Need More Information?
If you're ready to remove the dirt, smell, and potential pollutants from your home's garbage bins, the next step is to contact us. At Sparkling Cans, LLC we have a team of professionals ready to answer all of your questions.
All trash cleaning services are not created equal. At Sparkling Cans, we pride ourselves on providing the best customer service to go with the best processes to clean and disinfect your trash bins.