To keep the lids to your trash cans from becoming lost or separated from the can:
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- Run a 4’ long piece of cord or thin rope through a hole in the trash can lid, tie a knot in it to hold it, then tie the other end to the trash can handle.
- Write your street number on the inside of the lid so neighbors will return it if it becomes separated from the can during garbage collection.
Watch this video to find out more.
Further Information
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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Joe Truini: Here’s a tip I got this tip from my brother-in-law, Michael, who lives in Florida. And it’s a way to keep your trash can lids from being separated and lost from the trash cans themselves. Start with a length of nylon cord about four feet long, and tie a knot in one end. Then take the other end, and feed it through the lid itself. Now, this lid had holes in it already, but if yours doesn’t, you can just drill them with a quarter-inch diameter bit. Then take the other end of the cord, and just tie it to the handle of the can.
What you’re doing of course is just latching the lid to the can itself, so that they don’t get separated. And again, with four feet of cord, that’s plenty of room for the collector to drop the lid, dump out the trash, and put it back.
Now, the additional tip that, in case these do get separated, an additional tip is to write your house number right on the underside of the lid. This way, if they do get separated, maybe the neighbor will return it.