For Hydrogen Peroxide Explorers:
Adventure from Issue #1:
Deodorize a Garbage Can with Hydrogen Peroxide

The Adventure for issue #1 of the Peroxide Explorers' Newsletter is to deodorize a garbage can using hydrogen peroxide.

Did you try this Adventure?

Yeah You!

How did it go?

Other Peroxide Explorers will be interested, so please share!

You can contribute your comments, thoughts, and results here!

Here are some questions you may want to answer, or not.

(Don't feel like you need to answer any of these questions, or all of them! The questions are just here in case they help you with writing. You can just pick questions you'd like to comment on.)

• How did your garbage can smell before and after?
  
• Did the peroxide treatment result in less odor?
• Do you think that peroxide can remove or neutralize odors?
• Did the results surprise you?
• Have you ever used peroxide in a garbage can before?
• Would you use peroxide to deodorize a trash can again?
• Was this Adventure easy to do?
• What else do you think about this Adventure?

Directions for Adventure #1: Deodorize a Garbage Can with Hydrogen Peroxide

Here are the directions for "Deodorize a Garbage Can with Hydrogen Peroxide".

There instructions were originally sent out in Peroxide Explorers' Newsletter, Issue #1

I think my very favorite use of HP is for sanitizing and deodorizing messes. (Does deodorizing and sanitizing count as TWO uses?)    Hydrogen peroxide works so well and it is so easy.  And there are a lot of kinds of messes around my house to apply these nifty properties to! Ha ha ha.

So, in honor of my (previously) stinky garbage can, here's your Adventure!

Materials:

1.  A stinky garbage can! It can be a big outdoor can that you take out on garbage day, or it could be a can inside your house (like your kitchen trash container).
2. Some 3% hydrogen peroxide.  For an outdoor can you’ll need about 2 cups of 3% hydrogen. For a kitchen trash can you’ll likely need only 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide. (You need enough to cover the bottom of the trash can.)

Process:

1. Remove any trash and plastic liners from the trashcan.  TIP: do this Adventure the day after garbage pickup, so the trashcan is already empty.
2. Inhale somewhere in the general vicinity of the trashcan and NOTE THE SMELL.  You don’t have to get too close, but do notice the smell, because after this experiment is over, you will want to be able to gauge whether the intended deodorization worked!
3. Pour all the peroxide down the sides of the can. It should cover the entire bottom of the can. (If it doesn’t’ cover the bottom, add use some more.) (Note: the peroxide will not stay in contact with the sides of the can long enough to make much difference, but may as well pour it down the sides anyway, to get just a moment of contact.)
4. Leave the trashcan overnight. This gives the peroxide plenty of time to work to disinfect and deodorize the bottom of the can – the area it is in contact with. (If there’s some reason you’re in a rush, an hour or two would be okay. But if it’s not inconvenient, leave it overnight.)
5. The next day, empty out the peroxide. If you can, rinse the peroxide into a garden area, and add lots of water with a garden hose. Use at least five to ten gallons of water to soak in to the area. (This is good for your plants.) Or you can add water (2 gallons per cup of peroxide) and water potted plants. Or you can discard the peroxide down a drain.
6. Rinse out the trashcan.
7. Ready? Smell the trashcan again. Does it smell better than before?
8. Turn it over and let the inside of the trashcan dry.

Gardening: attach sprayer to garden hose; use to dilute peroxide and spray on the garden

Spray bottles for peroxide