Blast away that nasty garbage stench and slime
The Bin Spa offers door-to-door service to rid green bins, garbage cans of smells, food waste and nasty maggots, writes Karen Turner.
From squirming maggots to rotting fruit and vegetables, summer green bins are a breeding ground for all things nasty. But Michelle and Andy Harmon can make all the creepy crawlies, horrible smells and caked-on guck go away — and they’ll even come to your house to do it.
The Kanata couple are the owners and operators of The Bin Spa, a mobile pressure-washing company that uses extremely hot water and biodegradable cleaning products to wash, sanitize and deodorize dirty green bins, recycling boxes, garbage cans and composters, as well as commercial Dumpsters.
“Even if you use liners or garbage bags, bins still get dirty and smelly, as liners are prone to rips and holes,” says Michelle, who served in the British army for 25 years before moving with her husband to Canada with “no job, no house, two children and lots of hope” in 2008.
“How we got into this is really bizarre. Andy has always wanted his own business,” recalls Michelle, who says they looked into owning a franchise, “but I thought, ‘I don’t want to sell coffee and chocolate bars.’”
Both 50, the Harmons say pressure-washing services are common in the U.K., but what makes their company different is they don’t use harsh chemicals or dump waste water into the storm sewers.
“What people do not realize is that the compliance requirements in Ontario are significant. Believe it or not, washing a bin out comes under Regulation 347, waste management under the Environmental Protection Act,” says Michelle, who spent months researching the laws and requirements of becoming a certified green business.
“We have the permits, we are registered with the Ministry of the Environment, and have had to take out separate pollution insurance,” she says.
And the tricked-out trailer they use to wash the bins is the ultimate “boy’s toy,” says Andy with a big grin.
Made of lightweight aluminum, the 17-foot trailer has dual, remotecontrolled hydraulic arms that lift two bins at a time, turning them upside down over a large receptacle, where a spinning sprinkler blasts hot water and degreaser into them to clean away all the dirt and grime.
Andy then uses a retractable hose to power-wash the outside of the containers and lids before setting them back down on the ground where he wipes them dry with a clean cloth and sprays them with deodorizer.
To avoid cross contamination of bacteria, only fresh water is used for each cleaning, and all of the waste water and food particles are collected in the receptacle and trucked to Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre in Gloucester for disposal.
“We take everything away with us,” Andy says.
Available from April to October, biweekly residential cleanings range from $60 for six to $130 for 26.
Jim Rennicks of Barrhaven wasn’t initially sold on the idea of hiring The Bin Spa to do his dirty work.
“At first I thought, I didn’t want to spend money for someone else to clean my bins,” says Rennicks, who admits that where to dump the mouldy food chunks and dirty water after hosing out bins was always a challenge. “But I got tired of maggots crawling around in my garage.”
Now, every two weeks, Andy pulls up with his trailer to wash Rennicks’ green bin, garbage cans and recycling bins. “My garage has never smelled so good,” says the happy homeowner.
“After working all day, you don’t want to come home and clean your green bin,” says Andy, who admits it can be a disgusting job, especially when you get splashed with the pungent water or have to hose down slithering invaders.
“I love maggots,” quips the stocky Brit, who can clean up to 200 bins a day with his custom trailer. “Somebody’s got to do the stinky business.” INFO: 613-986-2467 OR THEBINSPA.COM