Yes, You Can Clean Your Own Trash Can. Here Is What It Takes.
Quick Answer: Yes. A scrub with dish soap and a stiff brush, done on the lawn right after pickup, is worth doing between professional cleanings. In Huntsville, keep the wash water off the driveway and out of the street, because the city code bans anything but stormwater in the storm sewer. What DIY cannot do is sanitize with heat.
TLDR:
- You can clean your own cart. Soap, a long brush and a sunny afternoon go a long way.
- Do it on the lawn. Huntsville’s code prohibits anything other than stormwater in the storm sewer, and that includes streets, gutters and ditches.
- Huntsville also wants the cart lid “kept closed at all times,” so a dry, clean lid seal matters.
- A garden hose moves residue. The FDA’s hot-water sanitizing benchmark is 171°F, and a spigot is not heated.
- DIY is good maintenance. A deep reset after summer or a maggot problem is where hot water earns its keep.
If you have a pressure washer, a hose and a free Saturday, the question is fair: why pay anyone to clean a trash can? This guide gives you the honest answer, including how to do it well yourself and the one Huntsville rule most people break without knowing it.
Rather skip the scrubbing? TidyCan cleans Huntsville carts on your pickup day with 200-degree water, no harsh chemicals, and nothing running down your driveway. Plans start at $30 every 4 weeks for up to two bins.
Huntsville Already Asks a Lot of Your Cart
Before the how-to, it helps to know what the city expects of the cart you are cleaning. In Huntsville, it is not really your cart at all.
Section 22-71 of the Huntsville Code of Ordinances says the container “shall remain the property of the city” and is assigned to your address by number. The same section says “Container lid must be kept closed at all times to prevent any accumulation of water,” and it requires all contents to be bagged. If a cart is damaged by the customer’s own neglect or misuse, a fee applies.
You pay for it too. The city charges $21.50 a month for the 96 gallon cart, according to its sanitation pages. A clean cart protects the lid seal and hinge the code depends on. It also saves you the smell. Our Huntsville trash can cleaning page covers the city’s curb rules in full.
How to Clean Your Own Trash Can, Step by Step
This is the method that works, in the order that keeps the mess manageable. Plan on getting a little dirty either way.
- Pick the right day. Clean right after the truck empties the cart, when it is as empty as it will ever be.
- Roll it onto the lawn. Not the driveway, and not the curb. The section below explains why that matters in Huntsville.
- Pull out what is stuck. Wear gloves. Scrape loose debris into a trash bag and tie it off.
- Wash with warm soapy water. Dish soap in a bucket and a stiff, long-handled brush. Scrub the walls, the bottom corners and the underside of the lid.
- Do the lid seal and hinge. That rim is where residue hides and where Huntsville’s closed-lid rule is won or lost.
- Rinse it on the grass. Tip the cart so the rinse water soaks into the lawn instead of running toward the street.
- Dry it upside down in the sun. A cart put away wet starts the smell over again.
That routine will not make the cart sanitary, but it will make it a lot better. The next two sections cover where the water goes and what a cold rinse cannot reach.
Where Your Wash Water Goes Matters in Huntsville
This is the step people skip, and it is the one the city writes into law. Hosing a dirty cart out on the driveway sends food residue and soap straight toward the storm drain.
“The spilling, dumping or disposal of materials other than stormwater to the municipal separate storm sewer system is prohibited.”
Huntsville Code of Ordinances § 21-336(c)That storm sewer rule in Section 21-336 is broader than it sounds. The code defines the system to include “streets, catchbasins, curbs, gutters, ditches, manmade channels, or storm drains.” Home car washing is on the code’s list of exceptions. Rinsing out a garbage cart is not.
The city’s own storm water pollution page gives the practical version: “Use the lawn, not your driveway!” and “Don’t hose down driveways or sidewalks.” The reason is where that water ends up. The EPA explains that storm sewer runoff is “often discharged, untreated, into local water bodies.”
Want the wash water off your plate? Our trucks carry their own water and take the dirty water with them, so nothing from your cart reaches the street.
What a Garden Hose Cannot Do
A hose and a brush remove what you can see. What they cannot do is sanitize, and the reason is temperature.
The FDA Food Code sets the benchmark restaurants use. Under Section 4-501.111, hot water used for sanitizing by immersion has to be “maintained at 77°C (171°F) or above,” and Section 4-703.11 calls for at least 30 seconds of it. Your outdoor spigot is not connected to a water heater, and a bucket of warm tap water cools off fast against a plastic cart.
That is why a scrubbed cart can smell fine for a few days and then slowly turn again. Our guide to how trash can cleaning works shows what 200-degree water under pressure does that a hose cannot.
When DIY Is Enough, and When It Is Not
Here is the honest line. DIY is good maintenance, and a hot-water clean is a reset.
A monthly scrub is plenty for a cart that gets bagged trash and a dry garage. Tie every bag, double-bag anything wet, and let the cart dry open after a spill. Our guide to how often to clean your trash can in Alabama heat covers the habits that stretch the time between cleanings.
A reset makes sense after a Huntsville summer, after a bag leaks in the bottom, or once flies and maggots show up. At that point you are fighting film bonded to the plastic, not loose dirt. Our maggot guide covers that problem in detail.
What Huntsville Homeowners Ask About Cleaning Their Own Trash Can
These are the questions that come up most when Huntsville homeowners weigh doing it themselves. Each answer comes from the city code, the FDA Food Code or the sources above.
Can I wash my trash can in the driveway in Huntsville?
The city advises against it. Huntsville’s code prohibits anything other than stormwater in the storm sewer system, which it defines to include streets, curbs, gutters and ditches. The city’s storm water page says to use the lawn, not your driveway. Rinse your cart on the grass so the water soaks in.
What is the best way to clean a garbage cart yourself?
Clean it right after pickup, on the lawn. Wear gloves, scrape out debris, then scrub the walls, bottom and lid with dish soap and a stiff long-handled brush. Pay attention to the lid seal and hinge. Rinse it on the grass and dry it upside down in the sun before rolling it back.
Does rinsing a trash can with a hose sanitize it?
No. A hose removes loose residue, but sanitizing takes heat. The FDA Food Code benchmark for sanitizing by hot-water immersion is 171°F for at least 30 seconds. An outdoor spigot is not heated, so a hose rinse cleans the surface without killing what lives in the film on the plastic.
Who owns the garbage cart in Huntsville?
The city does. Huntsville’s code says the container remains the property of the city and is assigned to your address by an identifying number. You pay $21.50 a month for the 96 gallon cart. The code also requires the lid to be kept closed at all times, so a clean, working lid matters.
How often should I clean my trash can myself?
For most households, a scrub once a month keeps odor under control, with more attention from June through September. Tie every bag and double-bag anything wet in between. If you see flies or maggots, or the smell returns within days of cleaning, that is the point where a hot-water clean pays off.
Keep the scrub brush, or hand it off. TidyCan cleans Huntsville carts on your regular pickup day with 200-degree water, no harsh chemicals, and no runoff, with clear pricing and no surprises.