Unfortunately, we can’t control the weather and sometimes rain or snow will fall at the most inconvenient times. It’s important to avoid letting your bin fill with precipitation because when the bin rental company returns to haul away the bin, and your trash along with it, you will be charged by the weight of the bin.
Rainwater and snow can add a considerable amount of weight to the bin, so it’s best to keep it out. Also, any absorbent material in the bin, like old wood, drywall, and papers, will get damp, expand and get weighed down by the water in the bin. Also, if you’ve tossed anything organic in the bin, like soil, old plants, or anything with traces of food, you don’t want to add a lot of water to that mix or you may have a bit of an odour on your hands.
How can you cover your bin and keep out the rain?
Though bins don’t actually have lids, you should have the opportunity to rent a tarp from the rental bin company that will fit properly across the top of the bin. But if you opt out of that rental, you can use your own tarps at home, or create a lid out of other materials.
If you’ve rented a slightly smaller bin, you may want to just try using garbage bags and tape. You can cut open the garbage bags to make them bigger and tape them together to create a tarp. This gives you a lot of control over the size of the cover, and everything you need is available in your kitchen cupboard. You may also want to try using plastic tablecloths or any other plastic or rain-proofed material.
Another way to cover the bin from rain or snow is to use boards. Plywood or any kind of sturdy board would create a temporary lid, and the stability of the wood or planks would also hold up against the weight of snow or any kind of heavy storm. In the most extreme weather, you’ll probably want to opt for a combination of a heavy tarp, tied onto the top of the bins with ropes, and weighed down on top with plywood.
Another benefit of adding the cover on your bin is that you can avoid unwanted or unauthorized dumping. Though it doesn’t actually lock strangers out of your bin, it will deter them from doing so and reduce the likelihood of having your bin fill up with someone else’s trash.
