Sizes & Bags

8 gallon vs 13 gallon trash cans

Thirteen gallons is the American default and eight is the size people are talked out of. This page argues that more households should be buying the eight.

By Ryder M. · Last reviewed September 29, 2026

Hands fitting a liner bag into a kitchen trash can

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The verdict, first

Buy 13 gallons if you are a household of three or more, do not recycle much, and want to change the bag every couple of days. Buy 8 gallons if you live alone or as a couple, you compost or recycle, or the can has to fit somewhere specific. The eight is not a compromise size — for a lot of households it is the better answer, and it is under-bought because 13 is what the bag aisle is built around.

#	Product	Best for	Price
01	simplehuman 16L Mini Step CanA proper step can at 16 liters — damped lid, steel pedal, and a footprint that fits beside a dorm desk or under a counter.	Best small step can	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money
02	Kohler 13-Gallon Stainless Steel Step Trash Can (K-20940)The premium-feeling stainless can that does not lock you into proprietary liners — it is built around the standard 13-gallon bag.	Best value stainless	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money

The two cans above are representative of each size rather than the only options: a compact step can at the small end, and the standard 13-gallon stainless at the large one. What the comparison is really about is the size, not the model.

The two sizes side by side

	8 gallon (about 30 L)	13 gallon (about 50 L)
Suits	1-2 people, or a sorted household	3+ people, or an unsorted one
Typical footprint	Around 11-13 in wide	Around 14-17 in wide
Bag size	8-10 gallon, or a fitted liner	Standard tall kitchen bag
Bag cost per week	Higher per bag, more bags	Lower per gallon
Realistic empty interval	Daily to every 2 days	Every 2-3 days
Smell	Better - emptied sooner	Worse if left to fill
Bag overhang	Common with generic bags	Common with generic bags
Lifting a full bag	Easy	Heavy if it is wet waste

Both gallon figures are nominal. Cans and bags are not dimensioned to each other, which is why a nominally matching bag still overhangs the rim.

Why 13 gallons became the default

Not because it is the right size for most kitchens, but because it is the size the American bag industry standardized on. The tall kitchen bag is a 13-gallon product, it is what every supermarket stocks, and can manufacturers built to it because a can that does not take the common bag does not sell.

That is a genuine advantage and we are not dismissing it. At 13 gallons you have the widest bag choice, the lowest cost per gallon, and no hunting for liners. At 8 gallons you are into a thinner section of the aisle, and if the can is a simplehuman you are into coded liners entirely.

But the default has a cost that nobody prices in: a 13-gallon can in a two-person kitchen takes three days to fill, and three days is long enough for anything wet in it to become the reason you are reading this site. Why bags do not fit their cans, in full.

The argument for 8 gallons

Smell is a function of time, not volume

Bacterial activity roughly doubles for every ten degrees of warmth, and it compounds with every hour the waste sits there. A smaller can emptied daily smells dramatically less than a larger one emptied every third day, with the same waste going into both. This is the single strongest argument for sizing down and it is almost never made at the point of sale.

If you sort, the landfill stream is small

Take out the cardboard, the bottles and the food scraps and what remains is a surprisingly small volume of dry packaging. Households that compost and recycle regularly find a 13-gallon can is mostly air, and air in a bin is where odor lives. A countertop compost bin changes the size you need more than any can feature does.

It fits where the 13 does not

Three or four inches of width is the difference between a can that lives in a gap and a can that lives in the walkway. In a galley kitchen, a small apartment, or under a counter overhang, the eight is the one that goes where you want it. Where to put a can in a small kitchen.

A full bag you can actually lift

Thirteen gallons of wet kitchen waste is heavier than people expect, and a thin bag full of it is what splits on the stairs. Eight gallons is a bag anybody in the household can take out, which quietly changes who takes it out.

The argument for 13 gallons

Three things, and they are practical rather than theoretical.

Bags are cheaper and universally available. The tall kitchen bag is the most heavily stocked, most discounted liner in any store. Per gallon of capacity it is the cheapest way to line a can, and you will never be unable to buy one.

Fewer bag changes. If your objection to the small can is that you do not want to deal with the bin daily, that is a legitimate preference rather than a mistake. A 13 in a two-person kitchen genuinely needs less attention — it just needs washing more often. How often, and how.

Bulky items fit. A cereal box, a pizza box, a gallon jug. In an 8-gallon can everything gets folded first, and the daily friction of that is real in a household that cooks with a lot of packaging.

Buy A if, buy B if

Buy 8 gallon if	Buy 13 gallon if
You live alone or as a couple	Three or more people
You compost or recycle heavily	Everything goes in one can
The smell has been the problem	You do not want to think about it daily
Floor space is the constraint	You have room for a full-size can
You want an easy bag to carry	Bag cost per gallon matters
The can sits in a gap or under a counter	You throw out bulky packaging

And if you are between the two: 11 to 12 gallons exists, it takes a standard 13-gallon bag comfortably, and it is a genuinely sensible middle. The full size chart, in inches and liters.

Common questions

Is an 8 gallon trash can big enough for a kitchen?

For one or two people, yes, especially if you compost or recycle. It needs emptying daily or every other day, which is also why it smells less than a bigger can left to fill.

What size bag fits an 8 gallon trash can?

An 8 to 10 gallon liner, or a fitted liner if the can uses a coded system. A 13-gallon tall kitchen bag will fit physically but will overhang badly and slide down inside the can.

Why is 13 gallons the standard kitchen trash can size?

Because the tall kitchen bag is a 13-gallon product and can makers built around the bag rather than the other way round. It is the size with the cheapest and most available liners, not necessarily the size most kitchens need.

Does a smaller trash can smell less?

In practice yes, because it gets emptied sooner. Odor is driven by how long waste sits and how warm it is rather than by volume, so a small can emptied daily beats a large one emptied every third day with the same waste.

Is a 13 gallon can too big for one person?

Usually. A single person fills one in about four days, by which point anything wet in it has had four days to work. An 8 to 10 gallon can emptied every other day is the better fit for most single households.

Which size is cheaper to run?

Thirteen gallons, per gallon of capacity, because tall kitchen bags are the most heavily stocked and discounted liner there is. The gap is smaller than it looks if you are currently throwing out half-empty 13-gallon bags.

Sources

Every specification on this page traces to one of these, checked at the time of writing. Where a manufacturer does not publish a figure, the page says so rather than estimating it.