How to stop your wheelie bin smelling in summer
Why bins reek in the heat, what you can do yourself, and when a proper clean is the only real fix.
4 min read
A wheelie bin smells in summer because heat speeds up the rot. Food scraps, meat trays and pet waste break down faster in the warmth, the bacteria multiply, and the smell they give off is what you catch when you lift the lid. The hotter and more humid it is, the faster it happens.
Keep it out of the direct sun where you can. A bin baking on a north-facing kerb or driveway all afternoon turns far faster than one in the shade. Even moving it a couple of metres into shade between collections helps.
Bag the wet stuff. Wrapping food scraps, nappies and pet waste before they go in the bin slows the rot and keeps the liquid off the bare plastic, which is where the smell sets in. It is not a fix, but it buys time.
Rinsing helps a little, but a garden hose mostly just spreads the grime around the yard and rarely reaches the baked-on residue inside. It also runs the dirty water into the stormwater drain, which it should not.
The real fix is a proper clean. A mobile operator uses high-pressure hot water to strip the residue, then a sanitising and deodorising treatment (from $15) that kills the bacteria behind the smell rather than just wetting it down. Through summer, a recurring clean (from $10) stops it coming back.
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