What is your garbage bagging system? Also problem with flies!

[joules]

We use a small trash can and line it with grocery bags.

In a perfect world, I would not wait for it to get completely full so I could tie it up nice and tight before disposing into our large private trash can outside. But most of the time, it's pretty full and I'm unable to tie it as tightly as I would like (as in so tight that there are no holes on the top for small items to fall through).

DH on the other hand doesn't even bother to tie up the grocery bags (I think). I could be wrong. Since we moved and now have our own private trash can, I think he ties up the trash. However, I suspect that when he empties the Dyson, he just puts it directly into the large trash can. I always dump the Dyson filth into a grocery bag, tie it up, and then dump into the large trash can.

My mom also uses grocery bags. But she also has a larger (30 gallon?) trash bag she keeps in the garage. She throws the grocery bag into the larger trash bag and loosely ties it up each time. When the larger bag is full (about 2 to 3 grocery bags). She ties it all up and then throws it into her outside trash can. Her garage doesn't smell at all and neither does her outside trash can. It's not clean, but it's not smelly either.

We have a slight fly problem and I don't know if it's our trash can...or it could be neighbors. I can't open our patio door for more than 30 seconds without a fly coming in. I am killing at least 2-3 flies a day. After seeing this post (warning it contains pics of maggots!!): http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/shooo-fly-why-you-need-to-cover-your-food/, I am determined to find a way to minimize the flies.

When we bought the house, the large trash can was already super disgusting. Like it really smelled when you opened it. I wanted to implement a system like my mom's, but DH didn't want to. He said it's already disgusting so I guess his theory was it's pointless to try and "keep it clean" if it's already dirty. I didn't like that, but he takes out the trash almost 100% of the time, so I left it at that.

Well then the flies started coming. Last week I saw some hanging around the lid of our outside trash can. So I decided to hose off the outside and maybe spray it with some vinegar or something. After I rinsed off the outside....maggots started crawling out!! LOTS AND LOTS of them. DH opened the trash and saw a TON of them crawling their way up the sides. ugh. I don't think the flies can go in and out of the trash can freely. At least I never see them doing that. I assume the eggs were already in something we threw away? or flies got trapped in there with our trash at one point. Anyway. super disgusting!

Guess what I just did on my day off from work? I washed our trash can! ugh. First with soap and I scrubbed whatever I could with our outside broom. Then I sprayed with a vinegar solution. It's still dirty (stuff stuck on the bottom), but I think it's an improvement. It used to be so bad, I had to hold my breath when I walk by it (with the lid on!). I just took a hot shower too.

How do you use your garbage bags? Does your outside garbage can smell? Are there flies? It's ok to tell me I have unrealistic garbage can cleanliness standards too. haha!


On a slightly related note. In our previous townhouse complex, we threw our trash into the communal dumpster bin. DH did not see a point in tying up the grocery bags. I hated it. Anyways, once after garbage day, I saw a tampon wrapper floating around our street. I KNEW it was mine! I could tell by the way it was ripped open (btw, it was clean). If the garbage bags were tied up, this wouldn't have happened!! I made DH pick it up and throw it away.

[crayonblue]

We don't have flies and we always tie every bag very tightly. Nothing goes into the big outdoor trash can without being 1) in a bag and 2) tied. Tell your DH that a friend of yours in the area (me!) says he has to tie the bags. Especially in our temperate climate and especially during our hot days!

[BabbyO]

WE tightly tie up all of our bags. We have a 30 gal can in the garage. It is lined with a black trash bag. The smaller bags from the house get disposed of in there (tightly tied closed) until it is full...then the black bag goes to the curb on garbage day. The exception is dirty diapers. Dirty diapers get tossed directly into the lined 30 gal trash can in the garage. For this reason, when we open that can it STINKS! But the smell dissipates relatively quickly. We've never had a problem with flies and clean our garbage can probably 1-2 times a year (hose it down and scrub it out). We just never found a better method for the dirty diapers...and our diaper pail....well it isn't the best, but at this rate we're not going to get a new diaper pail.

[Binkandabee]

We have a trashcan in the kitchen that uses 13 gallon sized bags. When that gets full (it never smells) I take a larger black trash bag and put it into that along with all of the trash from the other small sized cans that are lined with grocery bags. It all gets tied up and set in the garage (or outside) until trash day. Smell i never an issue and neither are flies. I do make sure the larger black bag is tied very tightly. I tie it up by the sides.

[hellokitty]

My mil does your system. She uses what would normally be like a bathroom sized trash can, lined with a grocery bag. Then she ties that up and throws it into a large black trash bag in her garage. She doesn't even HAVE a big driveway type of trash can. They only take out black trash bags each wk. I've never noticed her house or garage to be excessively stinky or over-run with flies. I think that your dh not tying the smaller grocery bags is causing issues.

For us, we have a kitchen sized trash can, but it has a lid on it. We take it out every 2-3 days and throw it into a 30-something gallon trash can in our garage. One thing I notice is that our trash service, doesn't dump the trash can into their garbage truck. They just pull things out. If you have, "stuff" that is perpetually stuck to the bottom of the trash can, then it just lives there and I can see how it can get really nasty. Every once in a while we will spray out our trash cans if we need to. Now dog poo trash... omg. Don't get me started on it. I finally had DH stick a (pretty nice stainless steel) step trash can that I dug out of the basement last wk, and just stick it out on back for the dog poopy bags. It has made a huge difference, b/c when we were throwing it into a container in the garage, YUCK! We put a big brick at the bottom of the outside step can, so that it won't blow over, and the lid is heavy enough that I doubt that the weather would flip it up.

[SnuggleBuggles]

The best dirty diaper strategy is to flush the solid waste. Sounds gross but it really isn't. The smell difference is amazing and totally worth doing!! We didn't even have to take out the dirty diapers on a special trip. We just emptied the trash as usual.

Eta- weird. I thought babbyo was the OP so I was responding to that.

[joules]

Thanks guys!

I just set up our new "intermediate" trash area in the garage - a plastic bin with a large white plastic bag inside. All our grocery bags will get tied up and thrown in there. When that is full, it will be tied up and thrown into the large outside trash can.

[georgiegirl]

We double line out 13 gallon kitchen trash and tie it tightly. All bathroom trash is in a plastic grocery bag tied tightly. Now diaper trash is double bagged.

[KrisM]

We use a 13 gallon can in the kitchen. When it's full, it's tied and put in the large can in the garage. That can isn't lined with a plastic bag. It will hold 2-3 kitchen bags. I roll the can to the street on trash day. No flies.

[dhano923]

We use a 13 gallon can in the kitchen. When it's full, it's tied and put in the large can in the garage. That can isn't lined with a plastic bag. It will hold 2-3 kitchen bags. I roll the can to the street on trash day. No flies.

:yeahthat:
That's we we do too. Tying the trash bags will reduce the smell that attracts the flies. We tie all our bags before putting them in the large trash can that gets wheeled to the street. We have never had a bug problem. We have raccoons in our neighborhood too but they never bother the trash.

[pharmjenn]

We are overrun with flies!
They seem to hang by our doors and fly in the house the minute we open any exterior door, including from house to garage.
I do the same as KrisM and Danni, but our outside can also stinks and has flies surrounding it. Last night when taking it to the curb I saw the tell-tale new fly eggs (look like rice) so tomorrow part of my day will be bleaching the can again.

We eat a lot of fresh meat, and I think it is the packaging that draws them. I need to get in the habit of rinsing off the packaging before putting it in the kitchen trash.
I also just sprayed by the front door, inside and out, and the entire garage with flying bug spray, and yesterday seemed to have fewer flies in the house. We have a monthly pest service, and they have told me they can't do much for flies.

[abh5e8]

we hve the same problem. its a little better now. i have a small trashcan in the kitchen. i use 10gal bags. i empty everynight, tie it up tight. used to use shopping bags but theywould not tie tightly. then the bag goes into a big black trashbag, that is outside in a metal can with a tight fitting lid. i rinse meat wrappers and never let the trash sit overnight. the flies are much better now.