How To Get Rid Of Diaper Pail Odor

The tricks below to get rid of that characteristically unpleasant diaper pail odor will easily become your best allies when it comes to combating bad smells at home in a manner that is easy, inexpensive, and reliable.

Diaper pails are super handy to have and can do a wonderful job at containing the stinky poop smell that goes hand in hand with disposable diapers. However, often enough the fecal funk inside can begin to waft out and invade your home.

How Do You Get Rid Of Diaper Pail Odor?

To get rid of that diaper pail smell you need to use a 3 step approach.

• Reduce the odor being emitted by the diapers
• Ventilate the area
• Mask the smell of the pail with something more pleasant

A stinky diaper pail can have you scrunching your nose and running after the air freshener. Thankfully, getting rid of diaper pail odor is far simpler than you might think. Just follow the fool-proof tips below.

Reduce The Odor Being Emitted By The Diapers

The most important step to reducing diaper pail odor is to make sure it is not stinking much in the first place. There are a few things you can do.

First, roll the diapers up tight. The outside of a diaper is very good at keeping the bad smells in. It’s not foolproof but it helps a lot.

Second, isolate the diapers. I recommend a product like a diaper pail like the Diaper Genie (from Amazon) that does this automatically. Every time you put a diaper in the bag, the machine twists off the end of the plastic liner to contain the smell.

If you have already invested in a diaper pail and it does not have such a feature, you can pick up a supply of doggy waste bags that you can drop your soiled diapers in and tie off. You do not have to do every diaper, this procedure can be saved for the stinkiest offenders.

Lastly is to skip the diaper pail altogether. I know this kind of defeats the purpose. I am not saying don’t use the pail. But every once and a while your child is going to make a doozy. If the smell of the load is unbearable while you are working with it, there is no reason to leave it lying around. Trash it immediately.

Ventilate The Area

Now that we have reduced the smell at the source, ventilating the area will help to remove what is left lingering.

Opening a window is the best choice where possible, as well as leaving the door open so the air can flow through. 

In an area with no window, you may want to use a fan to help circulate the air.

Covering Up The Smell

There are tones of products on the market that are designed to neutralize odors and even more that will make the air smell nice. Which is great news, because now you get to choose your favorite smell.

From plug-in air fresheners to sprays to candles the possibilities are endless. I recommend going with a permanent fixture like a plug-in that you can set and forget, then keep around a spray for when you require an extra burst of freshness.

Now that we have the basics covered let’s go over some tips and tricks our readers have been using over the years to get rid of diaper pail odor.

Tips For Getting Rid Of Diaper Pail Odor

The Baking Soda Tip

One of the most effective and convenient odor-eliminating solutions to the stinky diaper pail dilemma is regular baking soda. Simply sprinkle one to two tablespoons of baking soda on the bottom of the bucket.

This no-nonsense tip works because baking soda is what scientists call an amphoteric compound; meaning that it quickly and consistently reacts with both acidic and alkaline compounds, neutralizing them and converting most into sodium salts whose smell is considerably milder and less offensive.

If you want to take this tip to a new level, you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil fragrance to about a cup of baking soda, along with enough water to make a thick paste. Then take the fragrant paste and mold it into disks or balls that can be placed at the bottom of your diaper pail for an even bigger reduction of the poopy stink.

Since most households already have a box or two of baking soda in their pantry, this tip is a quick and easy suggestion for riding a diaper pail of bad smells.

The Tea Tree Oil Tip

The essential oils of the tea tree are some of nature’s most powerful antibacterials known to man. For this reason, it is one of the best tools to use in the fight against foul-smelling diaper pails.

Tea tree essential oils are derived from the leaves of the melaleuca alternifolia tree, most commonly known as the tea tree of Australia. These nearly colorless oils have a very fragrant camphor-like aroma that is equal parts prickly/cooling and herbal/spicy.

Using tea tree oils to combat smelly diaper pail odor is simple: on a daily basis spray the inside of the pail with a mixture of water and tea tree essential oil. I recommend that you add 20 to 30 drops of the essential oil per 1 cup of water.

Keep in mind that, the more oil you add, the stronger the camphor aroma will be. Add too much and you may find that the smell becomes overpowering and even irritating. That’s the last thing you want in a room where your baby spends their time.

The Citrus Tip

Aromas from citrus fruits are very potent and can be used to your advantage if you’re looking for help with ridding your diaper pail from nasty smells.

All you have to do is take fresh peels from common citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, tangerines, bergamots, and mandarins, and place them along the bottom of your stinky diaper pail. Let the citrus peels sit overnight for the best odor-neutralizing effect.

Make sure to remember to remove the peels after they’ve been inside your pail overnight. You don’t want them decomposing inside your pail and adding a rotten fruit smell to the inside of your pail.

The Cinnamon Tip

One of the niftiest tips on the list is the cinnamon wet wipe tip.

I often resort to cinnamon when I’m trying to get rid of strong odors in my kitchen. For example, after a fish fry, I like to take a couple of cinnamon sticks and heat them in water over low heat for a few minutes and let the aroma fill my house.

This works because cinnamon is highly aromatic and the smell is pleasant and very lasting. Not to mention that it brings to mind images of holiday cheer.

How do you use cinnamon to get rid of diaper pail odor? Take a washcloth or wipe and moisten it with some clean water. Next, infuse it with some cinnamon essential oil, or ground cinnamon if you don’t have access to the essential oil.

Once you have your cinnamon-infused cloth, lay it along the bottom of the pail to infuse the sweet smell of cinnamon throughout the pail.

The Kitty Litter Tip

This is a bit of unconventional advice but bear with me because it is also a highly effective way of reducing the stinky diaper pail odor.

The trick is to take some high-quality kitty litter, such as some Fresh Step Odor Shield kitty litter or some Nature’s Miracle Odor kitty litter, and fill a clean sock with it. Tie the sock into a compact ball and place it inside the pail.

The granules that make up the kitty litter are specifically engineered to absorb malodorous compounds from the air, so having this small sack of kitty litter near your baby’s used diapers will do wonders to reduce that characteristic dirty diaper smell.

The trick is to renew the kitty litter every week or two.

A Clean Diaper Pail Is A Clean Smelling Diaper Pail

All of these tricks are equally effective at reducing and ultimately eliminating the stinky diaper smell from your diaper pail. However, none of them will work unless you make sure that your diaper pail is clean.

To ensure this is the case, I recommend that you empty your diaper pail often. At the very least, you are going to want to empty your diaper pail twice per week.

At the end of the day, the cleanest smelling diaper pail will be the diaper pail that you clean most often.

Last update on 2024-04-23 at 22:37 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API