Blood And Bone: Enriching Lives Through Gardening

Five Surprising Tools That Can Help You Keep Animals Out of Your Rubbish Bin

6 August 2015

Darren Stevens

If creatures are getting into your garbage bins, it can be annoying to wake up every morning to garbage strewn across your yard. Luckily, there are ways to deter pests, whether they are stray dogs, raccoons or any other creatures, from digging in your trash, and these surprising tools can help:

1. Bungee Cords

To prevent an animal from opening the lid of your garbage bin, you need something that can close it tightly. Bungee cords are the perfect solution to this problem. They allow you to hold the lid of the bin closed without making any permanent modifications to the bin, perfect if you are using a bin hired from a rubbish company, like C. Fulton Pty Ltd.

2. Freezer Bags

In addition to making your garbage bin inaccessible, lower temptation by not filling your garbage with tasty smells. Instead of throwing food scraps into your garbage bin, put them in plastic bags and throw them in your freezer.

Whether you have potato peels, old chicken bones or moldy spag-bol, putting it in a sealed bag in the freezer will stop it from causing your garbage to release a tasty odor. Leave the bags in the freezer until the day your rubbish gets picked up. On that day, throw the bagged, frozen scraps in your bin.

3. Pepper Shaker

If you would rather not store your scraps in your freezer, mask their smell in your bin. There are lots of different smells you can use to deter pests from your garbage bins, and you may need to experiment with a few different options before you find the one that works the best for you.

To make any animal that approaches your garbage bin feel an annoying tickle in his or her nose, keep a pepper shaker next to the rubbish bin and sprinkle it on all of your garbage. Other ideas you can try include red chili powder or liquid ammonia.

4. Halloween Decorations

To scare off animals as they approach your garbage bin, you can use a motion-activated light, but instead of spending money on that, find some old motion-activated Halloween decorations. You can often find cheap options at charity shops or on the sales rack the week after Halloween.

Ideally, you want the decorations to make noise, move and flash their lights whenever they sense movement or noise.

5. Metal Garbage Bin

Finally, consider changing the type of garbage bin you use. If you currently have a plastic bin, keep in mind that rodents may be able to chew through the sides of that bin. Talk with your waste disposal company about trading your plastic bin for a metal one.

Metal cannot be chewed through, but it also makes a loud clattering noise, and in many cases, that noise alone can be enough to deter a wild creature from stealing your rubbish.

Share