Is A Trash Bin Cleaning Service Worth It? My Personal Experience

There are quite a few ways to get rid of garbage. You’ve got trash chutes, community dumpsters, or individual family trash bins. By far, the most popular are individual trash and recycle bins. This is pretty convenient as you don’t have to carry your garbage very far to get rid of it.

Over time though, these garbage cans get pretty dirty and smelly, which spreads wherever you keep your bins. Be it your garage, side yard, or backyard. I recently purchased a trash bin cleaning service to de-funk my garbage cans. But, was it worth it?

Garbage bin cleaning services can be worth it if you cannot stand the smell in order to clean your own bins, if you lack the proper equipment, or if you have water or HOA restrictions. Generally, you can get the same level of cleanliness yourself, for cheaper, if you invest the time and elbow grease required.

The Process To Receive Service

It was fairly easy to schedule my bin cleaning service. All I did was google “bin cleaning service near me“. From there, I reviewed all the top results that google came back with. Seeing the cleaning trucks drive around, I knew what companies were popular. Based on the popularity and excellent reviews I went with a local trash bin cleaning service, Bubbe Binz.

Once I was on the website, it was beautifully presented with reviews, pricing, a breakdown of the service, and the link to schedule a service.

They have quite a few before and afters and they are all quite impressive. Along with before and afters, there are short blurbs from customers that spell out common scenarios that we all may have experienced.

Signup was just a few screens. You input billing details, the number of bins, your trash pickup day and if you have a gated community, an area to put the entry code.

If you choose a subscription service, there is an additional screen to build your subscription, This seems to be an additional page, where the only thing you choose is the number of bins, with an option to add a one-time bin.

From there you review your service agreement, input your credit card or PayPal information and confirm your order.

Pricing

As you can see, pricing for the service is broken down into a single purchase, or a subscription. Bubble Binz specifically only advertises a single service at $58 and a 6-week service subscription at $24.99. However, I have seen other companies offer different subscriptions, for different times between services. As far out as quarterly services, which may work better for smaller families that don’t create the same amount of garbage.

The savings difference between both services for the same 6-week interval is about $33. Additionally, each extra bin you might need to clean is only $7 with a subscription and about $18 with a single service. The difference in pricing is pretty drastic and I can see that they are trying to sell you on the subscription.

Fees & Additional Charges

I did want to point out some additional fees that may be tacked on to service. These are easily avoidable if you follow the instructions sent in the emails and outlined in the service agreement. This is most commonly an unserviceable visit fee. Bubble Binz currently charges about $15 for this fee.

This can happen if you need to postpone a week or more, or simply forget to keep your cans out on the day of service.

If you are out of town and are not there to bring your trashcans to the curb, there might be a way to waive the charge. If you let the company know ahead of time that you won’t be available for service, they may push it back a week or 2.

Another way to incur an unserviceable visit fee is if any garbage or recycling was added to the bins in between the time the bins were emptied and the cleaning service arrives. So, be sure not to make a habit of adding items to your bins when they are on the curb.

_{*Prices mentioned above are current as of the time of writing, pricing trends for this type of service may change over time.}

How My Service Went

The service works by leaving your bins out on your normal trash pickup day. Then the bin cleaning truck comes by and completes the cleaning service. Once I completed sign-up, I received an email and a text message confirming my next service date. The message also reminded me of the hours that the cleaning companies operate, so as not to bring my bins inside early if the truck arrives later.

Cleaning day arrives and I’m pretty excited. My bins haven’t been properly cleaning in over a year. My garbage truck and recycling truck come to my neighborhood late in the day, so I knew I was going to be one of the last stops. Right before the end of my service window, I get another text message saying they are running late and will be at my house later than expected, or early the next morning.

About 15 minutes past the service window, the truck finally pulls up and they get to work! They use a pressure washer attached to the truck to spray the bins out. Then the truck flips the bins up and then they use the truck’s built-in bin cleaner. The website points out that the pressure washer reaches 3500 PSI and the water temperature is just below boiling at 200°F!

The service took about 15 minutes. There was minimal water left in the surrounding area. Which is great because I do not have a drain anywhere near my home. All the dirty water is collected by the truck and hauled away as well! I did do a quick inspection and, although it was dark, I could see a lot of improvement. Especially with the garbage can!

My Bin Cleaning Results

I am pleased with my results. The staining on the trash bin was pretty bad. I was concerned they were not going to be able to remove is completely gone. The inside looks almost like new!

Also, the insides of the lids were washed, which is something I thought they may have missed.

The recycle bin, while not nearly as dirty, did have some build-up along the side, as well as some dried liquids on the bottom. No doubt from not completely emptying the bottle and cans before placing them in the bin.

Now for the smell. So, I will say my bins were very, very smelly. I have dogs to clean up after, and kids that are still in diapers. It was the number 1 reason I ordered the service, and they did a good job, I will say that it is vastly improved, but it still doesn’t smell good. I do not believe they use any perfumes and trust in the power of pressure washing, and their odor eliminator.

I have since started using this Odor Eliminator Spray made by Waste Management. It has done an amazing job at keeping my cans odorless!

Would I Do It Again?

I had a very positive experience with my bin cleaning service. The website was laid out great, scheduling my service was pretty painless, and communication from Bubble Binz was better than expected.

The bins themselves were also very clean and I liked the fact they use super-hot water to kill any germs and bacteria that are present on the bins.

The pricing seems a bit steep for me regarding the single service. I wished I could have the quarterly subscription for the same price as their 6-week subscription. That to me would feel like a great deal and perhaps worth it to not have to deal with washing the bins myself.

That being said, having access to a power washer myself, I’m not sure that the convenience is worth the full price of a single service. I also think the 6-week service interval is too short to justify a complete bin cleaning, even at the discounted rate.

If you have the time, tools, and ability to clean your bins, it may be a better option to clean your bins yourself. I found a fantastic article here, outlining all the steps to clean the bins yourself. The one thing the article doesn’t include is the use of a power washer, which I think is one of the most useful outdoor tools you can own and cuts down on the time and effort needed to clean your bins and tons of other outdoor projects!