Trash Can Guide

There’s nothing worse than a bathroom without a trash can. Sure, it’s (usually) not a place where people eat hamburgers or fruit with peels, but it is a place where small trash accumulates with astonishing speed. It’s amazing how fast the occasional toothpaste box, old toothbrush, and string of dental floss can clutter up a bathroom without a trashcan and make it completely unsightly.

So what you need is a small, unobtrusive trash can for all those little pieces. As with the other trashcans mentioned on this site, you can go very cheap, very expensive, or somewhere in between.

If you want to really splash out, you can spend $460 on wall-mounted HEWI, which does not have a lever. Instead, with slight pressure against its side. Spending this much on a bathroom trash can is, of course, your prerogative, but this writer has a hard time seeing how $460 merely for a wall mount and lack of a lever is a reasonable way to spend your money.

On the other end of the spectrum, you can spend a mere $3 – less than 1/100^th of the HEWI –on a Nine Star 5 gallon infrared-equipped trash can. This writer has to wonder why you would get anything more expensive. After all, it’s a trash can in a room that hardly lends itself to much thought in interior design.

What you need in your bathroom is a small, functional trash can that keeps the clutter at bay. The  5 gallons are more than enough to keep all your bathroom trash and the infrared function is just what you need to keep your hands away from the unmentionables that sometimes accumulate in bathrooms.

So go on the cheap. Save your $460 for a different part of your house, or put it in the bank. When it comes to bathrooms, function reigns supreme.

Ashtrays

If you own a business, a large ashtray is imperative. Even if barely any of your customers are smokers, those who are will quickly make your entrance unsightly as they drop butts onto the ground. One ashtray will be sufficient, and, as with all trash receptacles, there are a variety of options.

Smokers’ Posts

These are devoted to the smoker. With their long neck and wide base, they are designed to quickly extinguish cigarettes by denying them oxygen. They are incredibly effective in this regard, as the narrow neck also ensures that other trash can’t be put into them, thus negating the risk of a fire. While a tad obtrusive, smokers’ posts are also attractive, and serve their purpose well.

Wall-Mounted Urns

The name of the game with the wall-mounted urn is utilitarianism. Nothing more than boxes that stick on your wall, they are not attractive at all – but that’s not what they’re designed to be. Rather, they’re designed to be discreet places for smokers to discard their butts. “We don’t mind smokers,” you’re saying when you buy one “but we’re not going to celebrate them with a pretty ashtray.” These are great for places like hospitals and halls of residences whose managers would prefer not to endorse smoking.

Combination Ashtrays and Trashcans

These are excellent as they combine all your waste disposal needs. If you buy one of the above options, you are going to also have to buy a trash can, as there’s no point in eliminating cigarette butts if they are replaced with candy bar wrappers, orange peels, and the like. If you’re trying to keep a clean shop while operating on a budget, this is the most effective way to give smokers a place to deposit their refuse.

A trash can is a crucial part of a clean kitchen. The only alternatives are not having one (which is disgusting) and having a trashbag in the corner (which is also disgusting as it invariably overflows). So, with a trashcan as one of the required kitchen accessories, the question becomes thus: which one to get?

If you’re going on the cheap, a plastic bag holder is a viable option. Although it’s barely a step up from the aforementioned bag-in-the-corner, it does contain it and keep the trash from spilling everywhere, and only costs around $10. It’s not very visually appealing, though, but, as with all things, you get what you pay for.

Rather than get a visually appealing trashcan, you can simply invest in one that’s not visible at all, in the form of the roll-out system. These can potentially go in any cupboard, but typically find a home under your sink. They’re a great option for those who want their trash out of sight and out of mind, and cost between $40 and $50. The problem with them, however, is that they can be a little too “out of mind,” overflowing as people put things in them, close the cupboard, and immediately forget.

If a trash can is part of your interior decorating scheme, there are a number of options. Step cans are popular, as they offer the convenience of a lid while removing the inconvenience of having to put your hand in or near trash. They come in a variety of sizes, prices, and styles, with the cheapest at less than $10 and the most expensive running over $100. The big qualifier for prices in this case is size and sturdiness – where a 1.3litre plastic bin will set you back $25, a 40litre stainless steel one will cost $125.

If you don’t even want to touch your trashcan, or just have a predilection for the futuristic, then an infrared trashcan is for you. These trashcans are equipped with sensors that detect motion, so they can literally be opened with the wave of a hand. Oddly, these are not particularly expensive, at only $75 for a 40litre version. Their only downfall is that manufacturers have cut cost on the exterior – rather than have stainless steel on the outside like the $125 kick trashcan, these only have it on the inside, with plastic on the outside.

There are a number of trashcans available for kitchen use, and which one you choose is completely dependent on your needs, wants, and wallet.