Four Ways to Protect Your Garbage Cans From Raccoons

Raccoons are one the most common pests that live in residential areas. These nocturnal animals are extremely smart scavengers and will find most of their food by digging their way through garbage in search of scraps, leaving you with a huge mess to clean up in the morning.  Fortunately, there are several different things that you can do to keep racoons out of your garbage cans and your yard free of debris.

Garage Storage

The simplest way to keep raccoons and all other pests out of your garbage cans is to keep them stored within your garage at all times, bringing them out to the curb only in the morning before they are supposed to be picked up. This ensures that no matter how much trash you have or what type of food is stored within your garbage bags, raccoons simply have no way to get to it.

Tie Down Lids

However, if you don't have the space for a garage, or don't have a garage at all, you should make use of bungee cords or similar tools to secure the lids of your garbage cans after they have been filled. Using multiple cords means that while raccoons may try to get into your waste, they will not be able to actually rip through the bags: the worst that you will have to deal with is simply picking the cans up after they have been pushed over.

Double Bagging

Another simple thing that you can do to reduce the risk of your garbage attracting raccoons is to make sure that all food waste is double bagged, especially if you use bags that are already scented to cover the smell of garbage. The double layers and the scented bags will make it harder for raccoons to determine what is inside your trash and makes it more likely that they will simply pass by in search of food.

Repellent

Finally, the last thing that you can do if you have to store your garbage cans outside where they can be easily accessed by raccoons and other pests is apply repellents. Raccoons and most other rodents will be discouraged if you make use of chili powder dissolved into water and then sprayed across the top of the garbage can as well as in the surrounding area. Alternatively, most hardware stores will sell other types of repellent that make use of chili peppers, predator urine, or chemicals that perform the same function.

For more information about keeping raccoons away from your property, talk to a pest control service in your city such as Environmental Services Pest Control.