Is The New Waste Collection Service Trash?

Where I live there is a new waste collection company. They require garbage to be picked up in bins like these.

They each hold 95 gallons. Of course, that’s if all of your garbage was liquid -- which it will never be.

We are a family of four, and I could only swing a single can if I took the other larger stuff that we throw away, and compress it, by drawing all the air out of the bag with a vacuum cleaner.

I have broken down boxes and larger stuff in 55 gallon bags from Sam’s Club. I was able to put them at the curb, filled with light stuff, and the other company would just toss them in the truck no questions asked. But we can't do that anymore.

Fitting all of that in one 95 gallon can was not working. I decided to spring for the extra can. It is $65 dollars a year to lease it, and $15 a quarter for collection.

Bottom line, it’s a pain in the neck. This change costs the taxpayer more money in the end, it’s just not collected in taxes -- it’s collected through the waste removal company. But I’m sure it looked good on paper. It saves the county money, just not the residents.

Anyway, because these garbage carts don’t close with any kind of seal, they can get quite nasty before the weekly pickup day, flies and whatnot.

I’ve seen many options to keep this from happening. One of the most interesting was taking a feminine napkin (maxi-pad) soaking it with Pine-Sol, and sticking it to the under part of the lid. While I’m sure this works, it seems like a real pain, because the pads will need replacing frequently. Also the cans that we have are black, and this is Florida, so they’re going to be extremely hot most of the time.

Another interesting option was this.

This was a great option, because it doesn’t require too much work. However, you’ll have to remove the laundry bag before collection. Because of the way the truck picks up the can, you’re likely to lose your laundry bag and bungee cord.

So, I came up with my own method, stainless steel screen. I know that most people don’t have this laying around -- but I do. I originally bought it to make sand sifters for shark’s teeth at the beach. They came in a pack of four 11” x 14” pieces. So, I had plenty left over to use for other stuff.

After looking at the can, there is only one place where flies can get in (with the lid closed). There are two vents at the back of the can. So, I decided to make screens to cover those openings.

I secured them with "stingers" those little framing screws that are super sharp. That's why they call them stingers, because when you reach into the bag they sting you!

This appeared to be a great solution. No pieces to replace, easy to make and install, problem solved right?

Well, not so simple it seems, I didn’t realize that the curved part was literally where the screens would sit down.

The screens needed to be modified. So I came up with this shape. I already installed them but they are shaped like this.

Here's what the openings look like now with the modified screens installed.

No flies are getting in now!

I now have a solution that doesn't require babysitting.

What do you think?

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