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Touchless Trash Cans

The best automatic trash cans

"Automatic" covers everything from a plain infrared sensor to voice control. Here is which parts of it are useful and which are a solution looking for a problem.

By Ryder M. · Last reviewed September 27, 2026

Electronic device with an automatic sensor

Lid & Liner is reader-supported. If you buy through a link on this page we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes which product we rank first — how we pick and how we make money.

The short answer

The useful automation is a lid that opens when your hand approaches. Everything beyond that — voice control, apps, auto-bagging — is either a nice-to-have or a failure point. The simplehuman 58L Sensor Can leads because its automation is better rather than because there is more of it.

#ProductBest forPrice
01
simplehuman 58L Sensor Can
simplehuman 58L Sensor CanThe touchless can that gets the sensor right — it reads how long you are standing there rather than running a fixed timer.
Best touchless overall
02
Ninestars 13 Gallon Rectangular Motion Sensor Trash Can
Ninestars 13 Gallon Rectangular Motion Sensor Trash CanThe rectangular Ninestars, and the only sensor can in this price class that publishes how long a set of batteries lasts.
Best published battery life
$46.99 · View on Amazon

$51.85 · 9% off · Price as of November 14, 2026.  #ad How we make money

03
iTouchless 13 Gallon Oval Plastic Sensor Can
iTouchless 13 Gallon Oval Plastic Sensor CanThe plastic-bodied version of the same sensor can — lighter, cheaper, and immune to the two things that make steel cans look old.
Best lightweight touchless
04
EKO Deluxe Mirage-T 50L Motion Sensor Can
EKO Deluxe Mirage-T 50L Motion Sensor CanThe Mirage-T in a matte fingerprint-resistant finish, which is the version to buy if the can sits in the open.
Best matte finish
$109.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of November 14, 2026.  #ad How we make money

05
Ninestars DZT-70-11R Dual Compartment Motion Sensor Recycler, 18.5 Gallon
Ninestars DZT-70-11R Dual Compartment Motion Sensor Recycler, 18.5 GallonSeventy litres split two ways under one sensor lid, at roughly a third of what the premium recyclers cost.
Best budget recycler
06
iTouchless 13 Gallon Sensor Can with Wheels
iTouchless 13 Gallon Sensor Can with WheelsAn indoor sensor can on wheels, which sounds odd until you have carried a full one down a hallway every week.
Best for moving to the curb
$98.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of November 14, 2026.  #ad How we make money

How we picked

We treated "automatic" and "touchless" as the same category, because in practice they are — every automatic trash can sold to households is a motion-sensor lid. So the criteria are the same as our main touchless roundup: sensor behavior first, published battery figures second, then bag compatibility, warranty and whether the lid can still be opened by hand.

What this page adds is a harder look at the extra automation brands charge for, because that is where the category's marketing lives. Specifications are from manufacturer pages; we have not lab-tested these. Methodology.

The picks in full

simplehuman 58L Sensor Can

01 — Best touchless overall

simplehuman 58L Sensor Can

The touchless can that gets the sensor right — it reads how long you are standing there rather than running a fixed timer.

Capacity
58 liters / 15.3 gallons
Opening
Adaptive motion sensor plus voice control
Power
Battery
Finishes
Brushed, white, black

The failure mode of cheap sensor cans is the lid closing while your hand is still over the opening. simplehuman's adaptive sensor holds the lid while it still sees you, and that single behavior is what separates a can you stop noticing from one that annoys you daily. Voice control ("open can") is a genuine convenience when both hands are full, not a gimmick.

What we'd flag: it is the most expensive way to solve this problem by a wide margin, and every sensor can is a battery consumable and an electronics failure point that a step can is not.

Ninestars 13 Gallon Rectangular Motion Sensor Trash Can

02 — Best published battery life

Ninestars 13 Gallon Rectangular Motion Sensor Trash Can

The rectangular Ninestars, and the only sensor can in this price class that publishes how long a set of batteries lasts.

Capacity
13 gallons / 50 liters
Dimensions
15.24" L x 11.22" W x 25.04" H
Weight
6.75 lb empty
Shape
Rectangular, sits flush to a wall
Power
2 x D batteries — up to 9 months (manufacturer figure)
Bag retention
Removable liner ring
Warranty
2 years

Two reasons to take this one over the round original. The first is geometry: a rectangular body sits flush to a wall or an island and wastes nothing in a corner, where a semi-round leaves dead space. The second is that Ninestars publishes a battery figure for it — up to nine months on two D cells — which is more than anyone else in this bracket is willing to commit to in writing. The lid is a precision fit that closes softly and seals odour in, and the liner ring keeps the bag edge out of sight.

What we'd flag: square internal corners are harder to clean than rounded ones, and a leaked bag pools in those corners. Expect to get a cloth into them. Nine months is also a manufacturer figure on normal household use, not a tested one.

$46.99 · View on Amazon

$51.85 · 9% off · Price as of November 14, 2026.  #ad How we make money

iTouchless 13 Gallon Oval Plastic Sensor Can

03 — Best lightweight touchless

iTouchless 13 Gallon Oval Plastic Sensor Can

The plastic-bodied version of the same sensor can — lighter, cheaper, and immune to the two things that make steel cans look old.

Capacity
13 gallons / 50 liters
Body
Plastic
Odor control
AbsorbX activated carbon filter

Stainless steel cans fail cosmetically long before they fail mechanically: a dent near the pedal and a permanent haze of fingerprints. A plastic body has neither problem, wipes clean properly, and is light enough to move with one hand while you mop.

What we'd flag: plastic scuffs, and over years in a sunny kitchen it discolors. It will look tired sooner than steel even though it will not dent.

EKO Deluxe Mirage-T 50L Motion Sensor Can

04 — Best matte finish

EKO Deluxe Mirage-T 50L Motion Sensor Can

The Mirage-T in a matte fingerprint-resistant finish, which is the version to buy if the can sits in the open.

Capacity
50 liters / 13.2 gallons
Finish
Matte, fingerprint-resistant stainless steel
Opening
Infrared motion sensor

Matte stainless is the most forgiving finish in a kitchen — it does not hold the oily shadow that brushed steel does around the pedal and the lid edge. Mechanically it is identical to the standard Mirage-T.

What we'd flag: matte finishes show scratches more clearly than brushed ones, because there is no grain for the scratch to hide in.

$109.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of November 14, 2026.  #ad How we make money

Ninestars DZT-70-11R Dual Compartment Motion Sensor Recycler, 18.5 Gallon

05 — Best budget recycler

Ninestars DZT-70-11R Dual Compartment Motion Sensor Recycler, 18.5 Gallon

Seventy litres split two ways under one sensor lid, at roughly a third of what the premium recyclers cost.

Total capacity
18.5 gallons / 70 liters
Dimensions
13" L x 21.3" W x 26.2" H
Weight
11.5 lb empty
Compartments
Two, semi-round body
Power
4 x D batteries (not included)
Bag compatibility
Standard bags both sides, removable ring liners

If the goal is simply to stop recycling piling up on the counter, this does it. Two buckets, one sensor-opened lid, standard bags in both sides — no code letters, no proprietary liners. It is also the largest can Ninestars makes in this style, which matters for a recycler: splitting a body in two halves the useful volume of each side, so starting from 70 litres rather than 50 is the difference between emptying one side every day and every two.

What we'd flag: 70 litres split two ways is about 35 a side, so treat the stated 18.5 gallons as a total rather than as two large bins. The semi-round body is also 21 inches wide, which is a lot of wall for a kitchen that was tight to begin with.

iTouchless 13 Gallon Sensor Can with Wheels

06 — Best for moving to the curb

iTouchless 13 Gallon Sensor Can with Wheels

An indoor sensor can on wheels, which sounds odd until you have carried a full one down a hallway every week.

Capacity
13 gallons / 50 liters
Wheels
Yes
Odor control
AbsorbX activated carbon filter
Lid lock
Yes

Wheels on a 13-gallon can are for the fifteen feet between the kitchen and wherever the bags go — a garage, a back door, a bin store. Full kitchen bags are heavier and more awkward than people expect, and this removes the carry entirely.

What we'd flag: wheels on a kitchen floor mean the can moves when you lean into it. On tile it will creep away from the wall over a few weeks.

$98.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of November 14, 2026.  #ad How we make money

Which automation is worth paying for

FeatureVerdictWhy
Motion-sensor lidWorth itThe whole point of the category, and it works
Adaptive sensor timingWorth itStops the lid closing on your hand — the top complaint
Manual hold-open modeWorth itMakes a big clean-up possible on a fixed-timer can
AC adapter optionWorth itRemoves the battery consumable entirely
Voice controlMarginalGenuinely handy with both hands full, but it duplicates the sensor
Auto-bagging / sealingSkipProprietary cartridges, a mechanism to jam, and you still carry the bag out
App connectivitySkipA trash can does not need a firmware update or a login
Sealed-in deodorizerSkipIt is a timer on the can's usefulness. A replaceable filter is fine

The furthest version of that argument is the self-sealing can, which adds a heating element and a proprietary film ring to remove the last physical action left - knotting the bag. The best smart trash cans costs that trade out properly, including the refill-ring bill nobody prints on the box. The pattern there is consistent: automation that removes a physical action is good, and automation that adds a subsystem is not. Every extra subsystem is another thing that can fail on a product whose warranty is often one year.

The running cost, calculated honestly

Nobody publishes a cost-of-ownership figure for these, so here is how to work out your own. You need two numbers: how many times a day the can opens, and the published cycle figure if there is one.

  1. Count the opens. A household of two averages roughly fifteen to twenty a day; a family of four closer to thirty.
  2. Divide the published cycle figure. Ninestars states about 10,000 cycles from three C cells, so at twenty opens a day that is around 500 days — comfortably over a year.
  3. Add the false triggers. If the can sits in a walkway, add a third or more. This is why sensor placement is a running-cost decision, not just a convenience one.
  4. Add the filter, if it has one. Manufacturers generally state one to three months per carbon filter. That is four to twelve a year. Carbon filters in detail.
  5. Compare against zero. A step can has no consumables at all. That is the number you are measuring against.

For most households the honest total is modest — a set of batteries a year and a few filters. The thing that blows it up is a badly placed sensor, and that is free to fix by moving the can out of the traffic path. Battery and power detail. The full worth-it argument, including who should not buy one.

If you need a bigger one

Sensor cans cluster at 13 gallons because that is where the bags are. The best large touchless trash cans covers the handful that go bigger, and what it costs you in batteries.

Common questions

What is the difference between automatic and touchless trash cans?

Nothing, in practice. Every household automatic trash can is a motion-sensor lid; the two words are used interchangeably by manufacturers. Compare on sensor behavior rather than on which word is on the box.

Do automatic trash cans need to be plugged in?

Most run on batteries. Some, including iTouchless models, accept an AC adapter sold separately, which removes the consumable if there is an outlet nearby.

Are self-sealing or auto-bagging trash cans worth it?

We would skip them. They need proprietary cartridges, add a mechanism that can jam, and you still have to carry the bag out. The problem they solve is small and the failure modes are not.

Do automatic trash cans work in a power cut?

Battery models do, which is most of them. A can running on a mains adapter will not open automatically, so check that it can be opened by hand before you buy — not every model can.

Which automatic trash can has the best battery life?

The Ninestars DZT-50-9, which publishes roughly 10,000 open-close cycles from three C cells. It is also the only can in this category we found that publishes a figure at all.

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.

Read next

The author

Ryder M.

Owner and editor of Lid & Liner, published by Magoo Media Group. He started the site after getting tired of the same problem everyone has: every “best trash can” article covers ten products and none of them tells you whether a 13-gallon bag actually fits a 13-gallon can. Lid & Liner covers one category and tries to cover it completely.

Last reviewed September 27, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it and note the correction.