Help my garbage not smell!

February 13, 2023 3:59 PM

I need to throw away a banana peel. I just emptied the trash yesterday so I have an empty trash bag. I don't want banana peel smell. Help!

The building where we live does not offer composting, so we end up throwing away lots of peels, cores, and other food detritus. 99% of the time, it's fine, odor-wise but occasionally we run into the situation I ran into this morning.

I took the garbage out last night, and set up a brand new bag in the can. My wife had a banana for breakfast today, and threw the peel in the trash. So now, there's a whole trash bag to be filled, which will take us a few days, during which the banana peel will start to, you know, smell like banana peels do. Aggressively.

So that's my question: how do I throw a banana peel away in an empty garbage can, and somehow have the bag/can not stink while we fill it with other waste over the next few days? I mean, I could walk a single banana peel down to the garbage chute or out to the dumpster, but some nights I just feel lazy, so I was hoping there'd be a way to toss these things in our can and mitigate the smell a bit.

posted by pdb to Home & Garden (20 answers total)

Best answer: Put it in a plastic bag in the freezer until the trash is ready to go out?
posted by LizardBreath at 4:02 PM on February 13, 2023 [39 favorites]

Seconding Lizardbreath. When I feel too lazy to take trash out I put things in a ziploc bag in the freezer.
posted by kimberussell at 4:03 PM on February 13, 2023

If you have a trash can with a lid that closes relatively tightly to the top I've found that usually odors aren't much of a problem. I have a step-open simplehuman trash can and I wouldn't hesitate to chuck a banana peel in there even if it was recently emptied. There may be a brief waft of stink when opening it later, but it dissipates quickly in my experience.

The freezer method works too, but unless you save the ziploc bag for later use instead of chucking it as well, it does increase plastic waste.
posted by Aleyn at 4:14 PM on February 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

You could keep a plastic container in the freezer specifically for smelly food scraps. Empty it into the bin when you are ready to take it out, wash the container and repeat.
posted by Athanassiel at 4:21 PM on February 13, 2023 [5 favorites]

Walk the banana peel out of your building, outside, and down the block to the corner where the city trash can is.

On the way home, stop in the drugstore and buy a pack of dog poo bags, biodegradable if they have them.

Next time this happens, you can then bag and knot the trash that offends you and then throw it away nicely protected.
posted by phunniemee at 4:54 PM on February 13, 2023 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Yes, put it in a plastic bag in the freezer. This is what I do with chicken waste and other smelly scraps and now I have about 19 bags of frozen smelly crap in my freezer because I always forget to throw them out on trash day.

So, my suggestion would be to put them in the freezer but also put a sticky note near your trash can to remind you to toss them out come trash day.
posted by bondcliff at 5:08 PM on February 13, 2023 [11 favorites]

May be too late if already in the bin, but you could make something with it. Banana skin bacon, banana peel burgers, cake, chutney.

Other than that, I'd probably try covering the banana peel with bicarbonate of soda.
posted by paduasoy at 5:10 PM on February 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

A bit of ground coffee in the trash can works quite well, though we also have a tub of compostable scraps in the freezer. But we have a compost bin outside. Which is something you could do, by the way. The whole point of composting is that it doesn't need to be picked up and carted off. Just make sure noone puts anything put fruit and veggie scraps on it, and if you get told off by the management, stop.
posted by toucan at 5:25 PM on February 13, 2023

I do wonder if there might be a compost drop-off point somewhere in your vicinity even if you can’t do it within your building? You could get a small airtight bin (opened less frequently than the regular trash can, so odors have leas chance to escape) and line it with compostable bags.
posted by staggernation at 5:29 PM on February 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Worm bin under the kitchen sink will resolve this general problem.
posted by aniola at 5:46 PM on February 13, 2023 [5 favorites]

Throw something else in the can on top of the peel.
posted by amtho at 5:49 PM on February 13, 2023

Cut it into pieces and flush down the toilet. I understand this is not the greatest thing for the environment, but it is essentially what millions of people with garbage disposals do every day.
posted by H21 at 7:02 PM on February 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Put it in a jug of water. Soak for an hour then water your plants with nitrogen and potassium enriched water. Then put skin in the freezer in a reusable container (anyone for ice-cream?) and put a note on the fridge. Use the same container for all your food scraps then chuck contents in the bin on rubbish day.
posted by Thella at 7:09 PM on February 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Keep a plastic magazine file on the counter or in a cupboard near the trash can. Use it to collect empty resealable bags that previously held dry-ish things like tortillas, snacks, dog treats etc. When faced with potentially stinky trash, seal it in one of those bags before adding to trash can.
posted by superna at 8:45 PM on February 13, 2023 [5 favorites]

I wonder if watering your plants with banana peel water has a side benefit of protecting against bugs, cause bananas are covered in chemicals:

• Imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid
• Thiabendazole, a fungacide and parasiticide and is found on most bananas
• Chlorpyrifos, which is insecticide, acaricide and miticide. It’s use in the US has been heavily restricted

posted by zenon at 7:24 AM on February 14, 2023

I realize I am in a shrinking minority, but I live in a location that still freely hands out plastic grocery shopping bags.

This is like one of the perfect re-use cases of these. Throw it in there, tie it up, and it should be ok for a couple days.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 1:01 PM on February 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Cut it into pieces and flush down the toilet. I understand this is not the greatest thing for the environment, but it is essentially what millions of people with garbage disposals do every day.

It's not a problem for the environment, it's a problem for your sewer pipes. A disposal at least grinds things up to a slurry, but even those cause sewage back-up problems.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:06 PM on February 14, 2023

I'd think a progressive city like Portland would require every apartment building to have composting! After you deal with the peel, get after your landlord for a compost bin. That's shameful, in 2023. In Calgary, which is hardly a progressive paradise, every multifamily development (condos or rentals) has to offer it, by law.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 8:07 PM on February 15, 2023

Just want to point out there is no need to waste plastic/foil/parchment/whatever. Put that peel in the freezer on top of any plastic/cardboard surface and it will be fine--it will not effect the taste of anything in the freezer if you're not doing a big pile of them or keeping the freezer open for a long while first. Toss it in the bin when it's time to take it out.
posted by nenequesadilla at 9:17 PM on February 15, 2023

If you'd really rather just have a green bin, here is the relevant page for your landlord to peruse.
posted by aniola at 9:26 PM on February 15, 2023