How to Prevent Pests Going After Your Trash Cans

Pest knocking over trash cans
We would all be extremely happy if we could prevent pests from touching our trash cans. Most homeowners face a common problem of opportunistic pests raiding their trash at night or in the early morning.  These pests not only tip over the trash cans and gnaw through the bags, but they also contaminate food, spread harmful diseases, and damage property.
 
If your trash is being raided by opossums, squirrels, wasps, raccoons, or rats, you know it’s annoying and risky to clean up garbage scattered from infested trash cans. Fortunately, these smart tips can help keep the pests away.
 

How to make trash Cans Pest Proof 

The following tips and tricks can help you take control of your trash:
 

1. Keep your garbage in bags

Loose food and wrappers dumped in the trash attract pests. So, it’s crucial to keep your waste wrapped in a trash bag before placing it into the garbage can. The trash bag acts as a barrier between invading pests and your garbage. If possible use a heavy-duty trash bag or pest repellant bags.
 

2. Washing the trash can prevents pests

A bag traps odours inside but if the inside of the bin is nasty it attracts pests. Washing liquids and food waste that leak out of thin bags reduce odours given off by your container. Check out how BagEZ lets you keep bins clean without using water. During the summer months, it makes sense as waste emits more odours because of the heat. Click here for tips to clean a trash can.
 

3. Rinse food containers

Pests like ants, flies, and raccoons smell the food left in takeaway boxes or plastic containers. Proper food waste management is essential if you don’t want pests to raid your trash. So, it’s important to thoroughly rinse these containers before putting them in the trash.
 

4. Place your dumpster far from your home

Move your garbage cans to a place away from your house. While this tip doesn’t necessarily keep the pests away from your trash, but it effectively keeps them away from your house.
 

5.  Prevent pests climbing trash cans by installing motion-detectors

Many critters and pests are scared of sudden, bright lights. If you install motion-detecting lights, it can prevent the pests from invading your trash after it gets dark. Motion detectors are not only an effective pest control investment, but it also serves as a security device that can deter potential intruders.
 

6. Hire professional pest control services

Professional treatments not only ensure that the pests do not move from your garbage into your home, but they also help minimize the population of pests invading your garbage can. Professional residential pest control service providers will work with you to identify and eliminate the offending pests completely and recommend ways to prevent further infestations.
 

7. Prevent pests entering trash cans use lids

One of the easiest ways for pests to enter your trash can is through an open lid. Use bungee cords, clips, or self-securing lids to stop pests and other animals from accessing your garbage. This is the simplest way to prevent pests from entering your trash cans, but it does not address why they are attracted to it in the 1st place, which is the odour build-up it’s emitting. 
 

8. Spray ammonia 

Ammonia has a pungent smell and is an effective method for killing insects like cockroaches. Spraying ammonia in your trash cans and dumpsters drives away raccoons and other small animals. The smell of ammonia stops animals from rummaging through your trash cans and causing the infestation.
 

9. Replace damaged bins or repair holes

Holes or cracks in trash cans allow small insects to enter the garbage. If you see holes or cracks in the trash bins, patch them up using fibreglass reinforcement tape or epoxy. If the damage is beyond repair, replace the trash can to avoid further infestations.
 

10. Use trash cans cleaning products to prevent prests

There’s always a tool available to make life easier and who wants to wash a nasty trash can. Finding oversized garbage bags hard is not only hard, it’s also expensive. More so you only need a bag to hold the nasty stuff, not clean stuff, that does not cause a mess. BagEZ, patented trash bag holders are the perfect solution for trash cans. Clip-on the bag that works for you and places it in your bin, it’s that easy. Check out the videos here, BagEZ is also available on Amazon.
 

Conclusion

Dealing with problematic pest infestations in your garbage is annoying and dangerous. We have outline the best methods to prevent pests from going to trash cans & ransacking your garbage. Use these tips and make sure to keep your yards and gardens pest free. Considering all these things will help you create an impenetrable waste disposal system on your property.
 
Author Bio:
Raymond Web has taken the task to educate people on pest prevention and control strategies, helping them keep their surroundings healthy, safe, and pest-free. Being the digital marketing manager for Take Care Termite and Pest Control, a top-rated pest control service in Tracy, CA, he has an in-depth understanding of people and their pain points due to pests, which he uses in his content to educate.