Everything people ask
Questions
The basics
What exactly do you clean?
The interior walls, the base where liquid collects, the rim, the underside of the lid and the outside shell — garbage carts, recycling carts and, on the commercial side, dumpsters and corrals.
Do I need to be home?
No. Leave the cart at the curb on your service day and we handle it where it stands. You get a message when the job is done.
When do you come, relative to my collection?
The day after, so the cart is empty. Collection days vary by city and by route, so tell us your day when you book and we schedule around it.
What if my bin is still full when you arrive?
We come back on the next pass rather than charge you for a job we could not do properly.
How long does it take?
A few minutes per cart. The bin is left clean, treated and usable immediately — there is nothing to dry out or wait for.
The method
Why does the water need to be heated?
Because the problem is not loose dirt. Food waste leaves fats, sugars and proteins that bond to the plastic and dry into a film that bacteria colonize. Cold water at hose pressure pushes the top layer around. Heat breaks the bond so the pressure can actually carry it off, and it sanitizes while it does.
Will hot water or high pressure damage my cart?
No. Municipal carts are high-density polyethylene rated well above the temperature we use, and we work at a distance rather than holding the wand against the wall.
What do you use besides water?
A biodegradable sanitizing and deodorizing treatment applied after the wash. It is safe around children and pets once applied, and it leaves no chemical smell to wait out.
Where does the dirty water go?
We bring our own water and clean up the area before we leave, rather than leaving anything standing on your driveway. South Florida's storm drains run into canals, rivers and the Intracoastal, which is reason enough not to rinse a bin into one.
Do you need my water or power?
No. The truck carries its own water, heat and pressure. We need nothing from the property.
Scheduling and cost
How often should I have it done?
Monthly suits most households, especially with children or a cart in full sun. Quarterly works for smaller households that bag their food waste. Households with diapers, pet waste or heavy summer use often shorten to every two or three weeks from May through October.
Is there a contract?
No. Recurring service runs until you stop it. Pause it for a trip, switch the interval, or cancel — there is no fee for any of it. Plans are paid in full up front, before the first cleaning.
What if I try it once and change my mind?
You are not locked in. Cancel after your first cleaning and that cleaning is charged at the one-time rate of $60 for two bins, with the rest refunded — so a $300 prepaid year comes back as $240. There is no cancellation fee. Cancelling later in a plan is handled case by case, so call and we will sort it out with you.
Do additional bins cost the same as the first?
No, they cost less. The truck is already at your curb, so the second and third carts are priced well below the first.
Can I call at night or on a Sunday?
Yes — the phone is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. You can get a price and book a cleaning at two in the morning if that is when you have a minute. The cleaning itself happens on the route Monday to Saturday, but nothing about booking one has to wait for office hours.
Do you serve my city?
We cover Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — from Hialeah in the south up to Jupiter. Check the service areas page, and if your street is not listed, call and ask, because we add routes regularly.
Do you have a referral offer?
Yes. If you are on one of our plans and you bring us a neighbour or a friend who signs up for a plan too, your next cleaning is free — one free cleaning for every person you bring, so two neighbours means two free cleanings. There is no limit and nothing to sign up for. They just need to mention your name when they book, and the free cleaning is added once they have actually signed up and paid. It applies to the recurring plans rather than one-time cleans, on both sides. Two houses on one street is genuinely easier for us to service than two houses in two cities, which is why the offer exists.
Pests, smells and wildlife
Will this get rid of the maggots?
Yes, and more importantly it removes what they were feeding on. Flies lay eggs in the residue on the cart wall; in Florida summer heat those eggs reach visible larvae in roughly a day. Strip the residue and there is nothing to lay in.
Will it stop raccoons and rats getting into the bin?
It removes the reason they keep coming. Animals locate carts by smell, and a bin with no food residue baked into it is much less rewarding to work at. Paired with a lid that latches properly, it usually ends the problem.
There is standing water in the bottom of my bin. Does that matter?
It is one of the better mosquito breeding sites on a Florida property — warm, sheltered and undisturbed under a closed lid. We drain it, wash the interior and treat the surface.
My bin smells like fish. Can that be fixed?
Yes, with heat. Fish oils soak into the surface of the plastic, which is why rinsing seems to work and then the smell returns within the hour. Heated water breaks that bond and the deodorizing treatment handles what is left in the surface texture.
Doing it yourself
Can I clean my own trash can with a hose, bleach or vinegar instead?
You can, but it is worth knowing why the result does not last. A garden hose has neither the heat nor the pressure to remove the fats, sugars and proteins bonded to the plastic wall of a cart — it relocates the top layer rather than releasing it, which is why a hosed-out bin smells normal for about an hour and then does not. Bleach or vinegar will disinfect a patch you can reach and scrub, but neither breaks that bond across the full interior, base and lid of a full-size cart, and hand-scrubbing one is not a job most people repeat. Professional cleaning works because the water is heated well beyond what a garden hose can deliver, which is what actually releases the bond, and because the wastewater is captured rather than sent down the driveway. Light upkeep between visits is sensible; it is not a substitute for one.
How is The BinFather different from other trash bin cleaning companies?
Three things, all checkable on this site rather than asserted. First, published pricing: every plan states the exact cost per cleaning and the exact number of bins it covers — two — with each additional bin at a flat $15, instead of a low headline price that turns out to cover one bin. Second, the wastewater is captured in a tank on the truck and hauled away rather than left on the driveway or run into a storm drain, which matters near the coast and the canal system. Third, no contract: recurring service can be paused, changed in frequency or cancelled at any time with no fee. We do not publish star ratings or review counts we cannot back up — when real, attributable reviews exist, they will appear here with names attached.