Buying Guide
Professional Trash Can Cleaning vs DIY Scrubbing: Is It Worth the Cost?
If you've ever pulled an empty trash can back up the driveway and immediately wished you hadn't taken a breath through your nose, you've thought about cleaning it. The question is whether a professional trash can cleaning service is actually worth paying for, or if a Saturday with a garden hose does the same job. Here's the honest comparison.
The short answer
A professional trash can cleaning service uses 200°F pressure-washed water, EPA-registered sanitizer, and captures every drop of wastewater. DIY scrubbing with a cold garden hose uses 7x more water, takes about an hour per bin, and sends contaminated runoff straight into the storm drain. For most homeowners, the time and water savings alone justify the service — the actually-sanitized bin is a bonus.
Side-by-side comparison
| Professional Service | DIY Scrubbing | |
|---|---|---|
| Time per cleaning | We handle it — 0 minutes for you | 30–60 minutes per bin |
| Water used | ~3 gallons (captured, not wasted) | 20+ gallons down the driveway |
| Water temperature | 200°F pressure-washed | Cold garden hose |
| Bacteria & germs | Sanitized with EPA-registered cleaner | Mostly rinsed, not sanitized |
| Odor elimination | Deodorized at the source | Returns within days |
| Maggots & flies | Removed and treated | Hard to fully eliminate |
| Where wastewater goes | Captured and disposed properly | Into the storm drain (illegal in many cities) |
| Cost per cleaning | From $20/bin | Free time + supplies + your weekend |
Why hot water matters
The grime stuck inside a trash can is mostly hardened food residue, grease, and biofilm — the same stuff a dishwasher uses 140°F+ water to break down. A garden hose tops out around 60°F. That's the difference between rinsing a frying pan with cold water and actually getting it clean. A professional trash can cleaning service uses 200°F pressure-washed water, which lifts caked-on residue in seconds.
Bacteria you can't see
A 2017 University of Arizona study found the average trash can carries more bacteria per square inch than a public toilet seat — including E. coli, salmonella, and listeria. Rinsing with cold water spreads it around. Sanitizing with a registered antimicrobial actually kills it. That's the part DIY almost never gets right.
Water conservation and the law
Most Twin Cities suburbs, including Eden Prairie, prohibit discharging contaminated wastewater (anything with detergent, food residue, or bacteria) into storm drains under the Federal Clean Water Act. DIY trash can scrubbing in the driveway technically violates this. A professional service captures every drop and disposes of it through sanitary sewer connections.
When DIY makes sense
If you're a once-a-summer cleaner, you have a pressure washer, and you're careful about where the runoff goes, DIY can work. If your bin only holds bagged dry waste and you rarely smell anything, you may not need a deep clean at all. The case for a service grows as soon as you have meat scraps, diapers, pet waste, or anything that leaks — the parts of trash that cause the real problem.
What it costs
From $20/bin
Monthly subscription pricing
Zero of your time
Cleaned on your trash day
100% guarantee
Love the clean or we redo it
The bottom line
A professional trash can cleaning service costs about the same as a couple of coffees per month and saves you an hour of work plus 20+ gallons of water per cleaning. For most Eden Prairie homeowners, that math is easy — especially in the summer when bins go from unpleasant to genuinely unsanitary in a single hot week.