Smelly plastic waste basket - help!
by
Rhonda S
+14
I have a cat, and I scoop out the box everyday into a bag, tie it off and put it into a covered plastic waste basket until I'm ready to take it outside. My problem? The waste basket, which is a hard plastic, now has taken on the smell of the kitty waste. Is there anyway to get rid of the smell periodically, or am I stuck with buying a new basket every time we have house guests?
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Place open boxes of baking soda inside to eliminate the odor.
That might aid it with a new one. Mom always said, ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Place purchased or homemade dryer sheets in the bottom of your waste basket. Then purchase (from the dollar store) waste basket liners. Enhance with a drop or two of essential oil periodically. See if that helps.
Basically what noamie says are great prevention tactics. To get the smells out of an existing can I would try very warm water and vinegar, then let it soak. Also airing it outside will help.
I love vinegar for these sorts of things and have had very good luck it. Pour it in and let it set overnight.
Essential oils always work well for me! There are so many scents to choose from!
I tend to be very allergic, especially to flower scents and eucalyptus. Maybe citrus? I can't imagine almond being strong enough.
Vinegar and baking soda clean very nicely. Then you could sprinkle baking soda into the trash container. What I do with my kitchen trash container is to put baking soda in the container, then a plastic bag. I like the vanilla scented ones, second choice is lemon. Then I put another bag in the container for the actual garbage. This way if the garbage bag leaks it will go into the next garbage bag and not into the plastic container.
Wash it out really good then put it in direct sunlight out side for a few days. Those uv rays will kill any residual odors
I use the old remedy for smelly ice chests. I pour vanilla food flavoring over plain charcoal briquettes, wrap in newspaper and leave in wastebasket for a couple days. Not only will kitty scent be gone, but wastebasket will smell like vanilla for a couple weeks. ((And I now use a tin wastebasket (5 gallon size) with a lid for any smelly trash that doesn't go right out the door))
cleanaway from f. and s. is my go to, esp. for cat wee, hairball mess, mouse clean up, toddler in potty training accidents, the power went out while on vacation and now the fridge stinks cleanup. no.....i'm not going to waste my real vanilla for a waste basket.
I use the clumping litter and clean my litter-box 2x a day, putting the clumps in an empty coffee container, and dispose of it when I have another empty container available. You can have friends save their containers for you too.