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.

A Typical Outdoor Can

Outdoor trash cans roughly divide into two groups: the home variety and the business variety. It is, of course, more than possible to use a $2 basket in your restaurant or a $1000 Whitestone round top trash can/ash tray in your living room, but I don’t recommend it, as the former would do nothing positive for ambience and the latter would gut your bank account for the sake of interior decorating.

While outdoor trashcans intended for the home are generally utilitarian, emphasizing function over form as they spend most of their time in the garage, this is not the case for business trash cans. A metal trashcan a la Oscar the Grouch outside the main thoroughfare of your hotel would probably not be a sound investment.

So it is best, for business purposes, to spend more for classier, less smelly, less obtrusive outdoor trashcans. As smoking becomes more and more taboo and often illegal indoors, it may be a wise move to invest in a trash can with an attached sand urn for smokers to put their (cigarette) butts. These are available for around $200 to $1000, with requisite differences in aesthetics. $200 buys you a simple receptacle, while $1000 buys a heavy-duty, rounded trash can that almost resembles a piece of art.

Weight is also important in outdoor trashcans, especially for the more expensive varieties. If you leave anything outside all night long, even if it’s a trash can, you are running a risk of it getting taken. 100 pounds is an excellent disincentive for drunken theft; 7 pounds is not.

The last factor is size. You want your trash can’s size to correspond to your business’s needs. There’s no point in scrimping and saving on a small trash can if it means you have to hire an extra staff member to constantly empty it or risk losing more money in lost business as people walk past the fly-ridden, overflowing, smelly mess and decide to take their business elsewhere.

In conclusion, there are a number of factors that influence outdoor trash can choice, the basics of which this article has touched on. Like every business purchase, a seemingly simple outdoor trashcan choice has a number of factors at play, all of which must be  considered.

As long as there’s been garbage, there have been garbage cans. They take a variety of shapes and sizes, but all serve the same function as a place to keep your trash. However, the fact that they all have a similar shape and same function does not mean they are all the same. Indeed, as this article will show, there is a wide variety of types of trash cans, all of which can serve a different purpose in or around your home.

Outdoor Cans

The biggest delineation between trash cans is where they are used – inside or outside. Outdoor cans are large, bulky, and utilitarian. Their job is not to look good or contribute to any interior design scheme but rather to simply move trash from one place to another. Some have wheels, some don’t, some are painted, and some are not, but their general purpose is the same.

Indoor Cans

Indoor trash cans bring with them far more variety than the outdoor versions. For one, they are available in a wide variety of colours, to match the most eclectic tastes in wallpaper and colour schemes. They also come in a wide range of functions. Some have lids, some do not. Some are big, to service a kitchen with its scraps, paper napkins, and other waste, while some are small to fit the needs of a bedroom or bathroom. No matter what your house or room’s needs are, there is a trash can to accommodate.

Your Needs

But what are your needs? Before buying a trash can you must assess. Are you a smoker? If so, a trash can with an attached ash tray may be just the thing for you; if not, it would just be an unnecessary expense.

Do you have pets or mischievous small children? If so, a foot pedal variety might be the trash can for you, although be forewarned: many children get a kick out of opening and closing a trash can hands-free, and it may prove a recipe for disaster. Dogs and cats, however, will be unable to master the foot pedal, thus leaving your trash safe and sound in its assigned location.,

Conclusion

To conclude, there are a wide variety of trash cans for all shapes, sizes, needs and tastes. It’s a big world of waste management out there, and how you interact with it is up to you.