You Should Put a Cotton Ball in Your Trash Can Right Now

I’m trying to watch my waste, and we recycle a lot. So my trash can doesn’t get a lot of attention. An egg shell here, some uneaten leftovers there (I should probably start composting, I think) — it takes some time for my trash to get full, and in the meantime it can kind of start to stink.

I’ve heard a gentle sprinkle of baking soda into the can every once in a while can help, but the truth is that I need something more “set it and forget it.” So when I read about this tip, I was hooked.

Soak a cotton ball in some essential oils and drop it at the bottom of your trash can, under the liner.

Well, it’s simple! They mask the smell.

By soaking a cotton ball in a few drops of essential oil and dropping it into the trash, you’re leaving behind a sort of fragrant and puffy little odor-fighting cloud that helps to keep the area inside and around your trash can smelling nice. And in fact, some essential oils have added benefits beyond just smelling nice.

• Lemongrass oil is a natural bad-odor balancer.
• Both tea tree oil and citrus oils (like grapefruit) help to combat bacteria.
• Mint oils help to deter rodents (good for outdoor trash cans).
• Neem oil can help to keep bugs away.

You can drop a new oil-soaked cotton ball into each liner as you fit it in the bin (or just use it as an on-the-fly fix as things start to stink). But you can probably reap the benefits of this tip for a few loads of trash by dropping your oiled cotton ball in the bottom of the bin under the liner. Just remember to replace it once a week (maybe on trash pickup day?) or every few loads.

This post originally ran on Apartment Therapy. See it here: Why You Should Put a Cotton Ball in Your Trash Can