What To Do If You Find Ants In And Around Your Outdoor Trash Cans

For many people, finding a solution to the eyesore of outdoor garbage cans can be a source of significant frustration. Hiding these cans to improve your curb appeal is only one step. Unsecured trash may draw unwanted pests like flies, raccoons, and rodents. Infestations of different types of pests can create a mess or health problems and require unique solutions, causing further difficulty in creating a waste disposal system that's both functional and stylish.

Ants are some of the smallest pests attracted to your trash cans, but their tiny size doesn't mean they should be written off. Allowing ants to invade your outdoor garbage could be a mistake that eventually attracts this pesky pest inside your home. Once they establish themselves on your property and grow in numbers, they might begin raiding your kitchen inside the house to look for more food or water. Fortunately, you can take steps to secure the garbage cans and make it more difficult for ants to gain access. Tight lids and regularly cleaning the cans will make it less likely that ants will want to invade. 

You also have some options to treat the infestation after you've spotted them around your outdoor trash. Adding poison to the area around the bins can help kill off the insects. Avoid placing items with a high sugar content inside your trash cans, as ants look for this type of food. If you don't give the insects a reason to keep swarming around your garbage bins, they're less likely to set up a permanent home.

If ants are becoming a nuisance around your trash bins outdoors, killing them and eliminating the colony is the most effective solution. One option is placing ant bait traps around the area where you store your bins. These traps contain poison that the insects carry back to the nest. Plan for the poison from the traps to take several days to affect the colony and reduce the infestation. Another option for poisoning the insects is to create a mix of borax and sugar to sprinkle around the bins. Borax is fatal to most species of ants. When you mix the borax with sugar, the insects are more likely to take it back to their nests where it can kill off the colony.

Before poisoning the ants near your garbage cans, make sure your pets and neighbors' pets stay away. You don't want them to ingest the bait traps near the cans (even though the plastic from the traps is probably more dangerous to the pets' health than the limited poison inside them). Borax can also be toxic to pets if it's ingested in large enough amounts.

If you'd prefer to repel the ants instead of killing the colony, a few options may work. You can use lemon, orange, or peppermint essential oils to create a spray with a scent that ants don't like. You can also try sprinkling powdered spices around the cans, such as cinnamon or cayenne.

One of the best ways to make your garbage bins less appealing to ants is to regularly clean them. You can use dish soap, a scrub brush, and a garden hose to effectively remove the odors and stuck-on food residue that draws the insects in the first place. Cleaning this overlooked area with vinegar is another effective option. Spray the interior and exterior of the bins with a diluted vinegar solution as an effective cleaning technique that also works as a natural deodorizer.

Using a secure garbage can also help to keep ants away. Select a smooth plastic or metal can that doesn't have a textured surface that would allow the insects to easily climb toward the opening. The bin should have a lid that closes all the way and fits tightly. If the ants can't reach the interior of the bin, they will leave and scout other areas to find food. If your outdoor trash bin is cracked or damaged, replace it right away, or the ants will use the damage to access the interior.

To make the trash cans even less hospitable, remove some of the sugary substances that frequently draw ants. Instead of throwing soda or wine bottles in the garbage with a little bit of liquid still in them, rinse the bottles out and block the opening before it's time to toss them. Because ants are also looking for a source of moisture when they invade garbage cans, don't place loose liquids in the cans. Pour extra liquid down the drain first.