Filters, Pods or a Tight Lid? Best Kitchen Trash Can for Odor Control

A Mexican kitchen makes a particular kind of trash. Onion skins and cilantro stems, lime halves squeezed for salsa and margaritas, avocado pits, shrimp shells, the paper from a pound of carnitas. By the second warm day, a bin with a loose lid announces itself the moment you walk in. The fix is partly habit, and partly the can.

This guide is narrower than our main kitchen trash can guide, which covers sizes, shapes and opening styles. Here we look only at what a can does about smell: how well the lid closes, whether it has a place for a carbon filter or odor pod, and what the maker says about refills. We describe odor features only as each maker states them; nobody publishes independent measurements for these cans, and we have not measured them either.

Julia’s earns a commission on purchases made through links on this page, at no cost to you. Recommendations are based on what a restaurant kitchen looks for in a kitchen trash can for odor control, product specifications and verified buyer reports.

Quick verdict: which odor-control trash can to buy

Below, the five standouts side by side, then all seven cans in full, and what actually keeps a kitchen bin from smelling.

Five odor-control trash cans side by side

Five cans, one for each kind of kitchen, with the odor feature and capacity each maker or listing states. All seven are reviewed in full below.

Product images from Amazon. Odor features, capacities and warranties are as stated by each maker or Amazon listing; check the listing before you buy.

Our picks for the best kitchen trash can for odor control

Seven cans, each with something specific to keep smells in: a carbon filter, a deodorizer compartment, odor protection built into the lid or a lid the maker describes as sealing. None of them is a pick in our main trash can guide. One brand, Ninestars, appears there with a different, rectangular model; the oval model here is included for its odor-sealing lid, which is the point of this page.

What actually keeps a kitchen bin from smelling

No can makes garbage stop smelling. What a good can does is keep the smell inside until you take the bag out. Four things do most of the work.

A lid that shuts fully. A slow-close or sensor lid that settles all the way down does more than any filter. A lid that bounces, or one held open by a stray box, undoes everything else.

An absorber inside the lid. Carbon filters (iTouchless, Joseph Joseph, EKO) work in the air under the lid. Each maker gives a replacement interval, from up to two months to three months. Write the date on the filter when you put it in.

Separating wet scraps. Lime rinds, onion trimmings and meat or shrimp scraps produce most of the smell. Keeping them in a small lidded caddy, like the one in the Totem Max, and emptying it daily keeps the main bin cleaner. Good food storage containers also mean fewer leftovers go into the bin in the first place.

Cleaning the can. Spills that leak through the bag soak into a bucket or the base. A removable inner bucket (iTouchless, Totem Max) or plastic liner (Simpli-Magic) is easier to wash out than a can with no removable parts.

How to choose a trash can that controls odor

Choose the odor feature you will maintain. A carbon filter or pod only helps while it is fresh. If you will not remember refills, a sealing lid (Ninestars) or built-in protection (Glad) asks less of you.

Check the refill cost and fit. iTouchless AbsorbX filters, EKO charcoal filters and Joseph Joseph filters are all sold by the makers. Buy the maker’s own refill where you can; iTouchless specifically warns against imitations.

Match the opening to how you cook. A pedal or sensor keeps raw-meat hands off the lid. A sensor also closes the lid for you; a pedal can relies on you letting go.

Size it to how often you empty it. A bigger can that sits for a week will smell more than a smaller one emptied every two days. For a busy kitchen, 12 to 13 gallons is common; a compactor such as the Titan holds more but keeps it longer.

Think about bags. Custom liners fit neatly and seal well against the rim, but cost more. Cans that take standard 13-gallon bags (iTouchless, Ninestars, Simpli-Magic, Glad) keep running costs down.

Safety and recall check

Before writing this page we searched the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall database for trash cans and for each brand here: Joseph Joseph, iTouchless, EKO, Glad, Ninestars and Simpli-Magic. The only trash can recall it returned was a 2015 recall of an EKO 80-liter motion sensor can, model EK9288BMT-80L, sold at Costco, for a laceration hazard from a protective collar that could come loose. That is a different model from the 50-liter EKO can on this page. We found no recalls for the other brands’ trash cans. A recall can be announced at any time, so check cpsc.gov/Recalls before you buy.

How we chose these seven odor-control cans

We started from what a kitchen that handles raw meat, seafood, citrus and onions every day needs from a bin: a lid that closes fully and some way to deal with smell between bag changes. We looked for kitchen cans sold on Amazon in the United States by identifiable makers, with an odor feature the maker names, and checked each one’s stock with Amazon’s product data before writing. Odor features, refill intervals, sizes and warranties come from the makers’ own pages where we could read them (iTouchless, Joseph Joseph and Simpli-Magic) and otherwise from the Amazon listing. We report odor performance only as each maker states it; we have not measured it, and we have not found independent measurements to cite. We left out the cans in our main trash can guide, listings from anonymous sellers, a simplehuman sensor listing whose details contradicted each other, and cans whose odor claims were vague. Our under-sink organizer guide covers bins that hide in a cabinet.

Odor-control trash can questions, answered

What kind of trash can is best for odor control?

One with a lid that closes fully and a place for a carbon filter. Of the cans here, the iTouchless SoftStep and the Joseph Joseph Titan and Totem Max all combine both.

Do carbon filters in trash cans work?

The makers say they absorb odors, and each gives a replacement interval: up to three months for iTouchless AbsorbX and Joseph Joseph filters, and up to two months for EKO’s. We have not found independent measurements, so treat them as one part of odor control, alongside a tight lid and regular emptying.

Are sensor trash cans better for smell?

They close the lid on their own, so it is never left propped open, and you never touch them with raw-meat hands. A step can with a slow-close lid does nearly the same job without batteries.

How often should I change the odor filter?

Follow the maker: up to two months for EKO’s charcoal filter, and up to three months for iTouchless and Joseph Joseph filters.

How do I stop my kitchen trash from smelling?

Empty wet scraps often, keep them separate if you can, close the lid every time, keep the filter fresh and wash the can when something leaks. Leftovers stored well and eaten in time, as in our guide to reheating Mexican leftovers, also keep food out of the bin.

Our pick for a fresher-smelling kitchen

Buy the Joseph Joseph Titan if you want a carbon filter in the lid and fewer trips outside. Choose the iTouchless SoftStep for a carbon filter with ordinary bags, the EKO for a hands-free lid, the Totem Max to sort scraps from recycling, and the Glad Slim for a narrow space with nothing to refill. For every other kind of kitchen bin, see our kitchen trash can guide.

And if tonight you would rather leave the shrimp shells and lime rinds to us, see the menu or call to order.