How to clean a stainless steel trash can

Clean the steel with a soft cloth, warm water and a mild detergent, wipe with the grain, and dry it immediately. That is simplehuman's own care instruction for its cans, and it generalizes across the category. The things to keep away from the steel are the things people reach for first: steel wool, scouring pads, stainless "polish", bleach, salt and acids - all of which can mark or pit the finish permanently. The inside bucket is a different job, and that is where a degreaser or a diluted bleach solution belongs.

• Two soft cloths - one damp, one dry. Microfiber if you have it.
• A mild dish detergent, or a dilutable degreaser for a can that has gone properly greasy.
• A brush that reaches into a rim and a pedal channel. This is the tool most people do not have, and the lid rim is where the smell lives.
• Warm water, and somewhere to do it - a shower, a garden, or a bath if the can is small.
• Not steel wool, not a green scouring pad, not bleach on the steel, not an acidic bathroom cleaner, not oven cleaner.

1. Step 01

   Take the bucket out first

   Nearly every stainless can has a removable inner bucket or liner ring. Pull it out and work on the two parts separately - that is the whole trick to cleaning one of these quickly. If yours has a lid that lifts off, take that off too.

2. Step 02

   Deal with the inside: degreaser, time, brush

   Spray or sponge a diluted degreaser into the bucket, and leave it for a few minutes before you touch it. Simple Green publishes a garbage-can dilution of roughly half a gallon of concentrate to half a gallon of water for a badly soiled can, which tells you how strong a job this is. Then brush, rinse, and tip it to drain. Letting the chemistry do the work is faster than scrubbing a dry bucket.

3. Step 03

   Do the lid rim and the pedal channel

   This is the step that actually fixes a smell. The film that smells collects on the underside of the lid and in the channel the pedal rod runs through, and neither gets touched by wiping the outside. A small brush and warm soapy water, then rinse and dry.

4. Step 04

   Clean the steel with the grain

   Damp cloth, warm water, a little mild detergent. Brushed stainless has a direction to it - wipe along the grain rather than in circles, and marks will not show. Do not use a stainless polish: simplehuman's care guidance specifically lists stainless polisher, steel wool, bleach, salts and acids as things that will damage the product.

5. Step 05

   Dry it immediately

   Water left to evaporate on steel leaves the minerals behind, and that is what water spots are. A dry cloth straight after the damp one is the difference between a can that looks new and one that looks like it is in a hard-water house.

6. Step 06

   Deodorize, then reassemble dry

   If the bucket still smells after cleaning, an enzyme product digests the residue rather than covering it - or a soak with diluted bleach or baking soda on a plastic bucket. Let both parts dry fully before the bucket goes back in: a damp bucket in a closed can is how the smell restarts.

Three products cover everything above, and it is worth being clear about which does what - because one of them is not a disinfectant and the label does not pretend to be.

The degreaser whose maker publishes a garbage-can dilution, the brushes that reach a lid rim and a pedal channel, and the enzyme spray for a bucket that still smells after it is clean.

Best cleaner overall

Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner

The degreaser we would reach for first: it breaks down the fat and food residue that actually makes a can smell, and Simple Green publishes a garbage can method for it.

$9.64 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 17, 2026.  #ad How we make money

Best detail brushes

OXO Good Grips Deep Clean Brush Set

Two small stiff brushes for the three places a trash can actually smells from: the underside of the rim, the pedal channel and the lid hinge.

$9.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 17, 2026.  #ad How we make money

Best enzyme cleaner

Biokleen Bac-Out Stain and Odor Remover

The enzyme option for residue that has soaked in — a bin that still smells after a proper wash, rather than one that is merely dirty.

$9.65 · View on Amazon

$12.73 · 24% off · Price as of October 17, 2026.  #ad How we make money

If what you have is not a dirt problem but a smell problem that survives cleaning, that has its own causes and its own page: trash can still smells after cleaning. For the general method on any can, including outdoor plastic ones, how to clean a trash can is the parent guide.

• Fingerprints. The marks are oil from skin. Warm water with a drop of detergent removes them; a dry cloth afterwards stops the smear. Fingerprint-resistant finishes reduce this, they do not end it - and matte finishes hide it better than brushed.
• Water spots. Minerals left behind by evaporating water. Dry the can after any wet contact and they stop appearing. Do not attack an existing spot with an abrasive - repeat the damp-then-dry cycle instead.
• Brown speckles that look like rust. Usually not the can rusting: it is iron transferred onto the surface, most often from a steel wool pad or an abrasive sponge used on it once. This is the main practical reason the makers ban steel wool.
• Sticker residue. simplehuman's own guidance is an adhesive remover such as Goo Gone, then rinse the area with water and dry with a soft cloth. Do not scrape it.
• Dents. Nothing fixes a dent in a thin steel skin. If your cans get knocked, a plastic body is the honest answer - stainless steel vs plastic trash cans sets out that trade.

simplehuman's suggestion for the steel is weekly, which is about right for a can in an open kitchen - it is a two-minute wipe, not a project. The inside is a different cadence: do the bucket and the lid rim properly once a month, and immediately after any leak, because a leak that dries in a closed can is the start of every serious smell. How often should you take out the trash covers the emptying schedule that keeps the deep clean rare.