Keep the stuff that will rot (chicken, fish, other meats) in the freezer until the last moment, then dump it in.

If you have your garbage collected once a week, lining your indoor can with a plastic liner that ties, and your outdoor can the same, then closing the lid tightly should just about take care of any odor. If you have one of those 65 gal cans, Home Depot has drum liners in bulk that are almost the right size for them (55 gal).

If you have twice a month pickup, do as stated above and freeze raw chicken or fish scraps, the worst offenders.

thanks-do think it is the fish and chicken that I have been double wrapping in left over ziplocks but it still smells. I will start freezing those.We had a carport for years and this was not a problem. Now we have a garage and I really like having one -except for the smell. too many critters to leave the can out.

Noodlesportland, Like the others, I freeze until pickup day. I buy .99 boxes of ziplock bags at Big Lots to use for non-garbage disposable leftovers. I have one shelf in the freeze designated for garbage only.

BTW: for cat owners, I use these inexpensive ziplocks for disposing the scoopings from the litter boxes.

Distance and bleach are effective; the garbage is buried every 3rd or 4th day and the soil is rich.
Freezing is employed during the coldest months.

Any other tricks, especially for dirty diapers? We got tired of using the diaper genie. I treasure my garage since I do woodworking out there, but it stinks bad.

you could always build a little can house right outside the garage... something big enough to hold however many cans you have with an opening front to get them out easily, and will still keep the critters out.

personally we dont have a problem with the critters. keep the lid on tight and they dont bother.

Our HOA probably wouldn't allow that. I think I'm stuck with keeping the stinky thing in the garage. Even after it's emptied it stinks. :-(

How often do you WASH it out? Some people who complain about garbage can odor never wash the dern thing.

Try Grandma's old trick of wrapping stinky things in newpaper. The newpaper seems to absorb odors. It really seems to work. If you don't subscribe to one ask for "paper" at the grocery store and use those brown paper bags. Newspaper seems to work better for some reason though.

Use metal cans instead of plastic ones. Plastic is porous and seems to absorb odor and not release it, even after washing.

Keep a spray bottle of bleach or all purpose antibacterial cleanser mixed 1:3 with water and just spray the inside when it seems to be getting smelly and pick up day is still a few days away.

Keeping the lid snapped on airtight is going to make the problem worse with no air circulation. If you keep it in the garage you probably do not have a problem with critters and a flip lid is probably adequate.

Consider composting, and get a Green Cone. Plenty of info on this, on the garden side of this board.

Ummm... How many stinky trash is in one year?