In some laundry designs they hide the trash receptacles in specially built cabinets. However, in most coin laundries, the trash cans are usually placed under folding tables, which leaves the sides and tops of the trash containers exposed to public view.

Most are 32 lb home style garbage cans that are usually found at Home Depot or other building supply retailers. They are common, cheap and almost always made of some form of plastic, which, in itself, could also be a fire hazard.

 

The anti smoking crusades have cut down the likelihood of coin laundry customers pitching cigarettes into the trash, but there are vandals who love to do such things in laundries that are not attended. Trash can fires can turn out to be very expensive. In more than one case the affected laundry has been shut down for months while repairs were being made.

Theft of attractive cans is not a rare occurrence in unattended laundries. In most cases, the can is dumped on the laundry floor and then it is taken away.

Metal drums would work better, but are more expensive, harder to find and heavy enough to be difficult for slightly built laundry workers to move. If there were a fire in that can, it would stay in the can. With plastic, fire can expand as the plastic melts, and even fed by the plastic materials of the can catching fire.

Despite the weight of the container, with plastic liner bags, they are no more difficult to dump, and their weight helps keeps them from being stolen.

In some ways, the ideal receptacle is a concrete trash container much like those found in shopping centers and at public buildings. They usually have a metal reciprocating top that pushes to the side to drop trash in. Negatives are that they are truly expensive and their dimensions do not permit them to be placed under folding tables. They have to be placed around a laundry in corners. Their weight is a problem too.

Positives include their resistance to the expansion of a fire. If something starts to smolder, the metal top keeps it from getting enough oxygen to blaze up and do damage outside the can. One other positive is that the can isn’t hurt by the fire and can be reused.

A choice of least cost for laundry owners is to use plastic household style cans. Cost being the chief factor, however, a few pointers on their use can make them more attractive, and less likely to be ripped off.

Take the lid and cut around it so that a few inches of the sides of the lid are all that are left. This makes a ring that can be used to hold plastic liners in place and keeps the containers looking as good as they can. Remove the ring, pull out the plastic bag, put in a new one, dump the bag and you’re done.

Coin laundry trash cans are pretty ugly things, even after attempts are made to make them more attractive. Most coin laundry owners really seem to care what their place looks like, but improving the looks of the trash cans seems like a daunting task.

Perhaps that is why trash containers are left untouched and undecorated in most coin laundries.

However, it’s really pretty simple to make trash cans look like they belong in your particular laundry. One can do that by decorating them to match the laundry’s decor. For example, if you have a laundry with Formica surfaces in deep blue, white walls and light blue trim, maroon trash cans will stick out like a sore thumb. Why not paint these cans to match the tables they are placed under, so they better blend in?

Some laundries are decorated using colorful paper as an accent on the walls. As our example, let’s say your wallpaper has light brown and gold vertical stripes. Either paint the cans in a matching brown and gold stripe, or consider pasting that same paper onto the cans so they blend in well with the laundry’s decor. The paper itself needs to then be over done using a clear urethane coating to keep the wallpaper in place and to prevent the paper from getting stained.

 

While paper adds to flammability, it hardly seems like added exposure when it’s placed on the outside surface of a plastic container.

As was covered here in previous paragraphs, it’s easy to cut a hole in the center of the lid of the can and use the remaining ring as a holder for trash bags inserted in the can. If you paper the can and over cover the paper, only go as high up on the can as the edge of the lid this will prevent the pushing down on the ring from peeling off the paper.

Some laundry operators use cardboard boxes as trash containers. What works best are moving boxes. They are about 18" X 18" and about 40" high. They are easy to cut to the proper height to fit under folding tables, and are the ideal candidate for wallpapering the sides to match the laundry decor. They are inexpensive and strong enough to stand up under heavy use, and can last for months.

One factor to consider is that they are made of layers of paper and glue and thus could be quite flammable if fire got started in the box. That could become a vital consideration in laundries that are unattended and much less important in Laundromats where there are attendants on duty who have been well trained on how to handle a fire extinguisher.