6 Ways to Pest Proove Your Recycling Bins

Whether it’s your place of business or your home, you will need to use recycling bins. Some bins are better than others. Larger ones tend to be harder to knock over, for example. However, these are all still prone to being infiltrated by pests. If this happens, well, it’s a problem, isn’t it? You have more work to do as you have to clean up a mess. However, there are ways to pest proof your bins so that there will be fewer occurrences of mishaps, if at all. Let’s take a look at how to achieve this.

1. Spray With Ammonia

Try spraying your waste bins with ammonia, both inside and outside. Ammonia is similar to the smell of urine, so some of these pests may approach the bin and be put off by the smell. They may think that a larger predator has left its scent and may be lurking somewhere and this could act as a deterrent to pests. In fact, many commercial and residential owners use this method, so obviously, there is something behind this logic. Try it.

2. Motion Detectors

A lot of the time, pests do their best work in the dark. So whether it is late at night or in the early hours of the morning, you can expect them to do their rummaging. You can try using motion detectors where a light suddenly comes on, or perhaps even an alarm going off and this could scare the pesky critters away. Unfortunately, it does mean you need to spend money on a system like this, so the call is yours. If you can afford it, or if you’ve had enough, then consider this, as it is also safe.

3. The Lid

Try getting a good receptacle with a strong lid and a locking mechanism. It is harder for animals to get into the waste if it is really secure. However, animals will stop at nothing, since it really is about survival, which is such a powerful force. If you make it as hard as possible, they may move on to the next receptacle. With a good bin, the smell of food is less likely to attract the pests if the bin is kept tight and secure. If there is no locking mechanism, use a rope or bungee cord.

4. Repellents

You can try to sprinkle some chemical repellents at the bottom of the bin. There are certain commercial repellents that are less harsh to the environment and the animals themselves. You don’t really want to kill the animals, after all. The idea is just to scare them off.

5. Clean & Rinse

You can rinse pop cans and other items that have food or food stains so that there is less of a smell. You can also wash your bins to keep it clean. This can help to reduce animal activity. Every little bit helps.

6. Use An Enclosure

This is perhaps one of the best solutions to a pest problem. You can build (or buy) an enclosure so that you can place the bins inside. You can then use a padlock for security so that animals or even people won’t be able to get at it.

Depending on your business or residential needs, you can get the right container for your needs. A restaurant will have a different need to a homeowner. There are a variety of good receptacles that you can get to help you in the battle against these scavengers.