Cafes and Restaurants: How to Keep Rats Out of Your Rubbish

For every person in Melbourne, it's estimated that there are four rats. Other cities are not far behind in the human-to-rat ratio. Unless they were bought from a pet shop and live in a cage, nobody wants rats in their home. If you run a restaurant or cafe, rats are very much your enemy. They're bad for business, and you have probably already taken precautionary measures inside your premises. But what about the outside? All that food waste in your rubbish is going to be awfully tempting for the local rat population. So how can you make it less tempting?

The Scent of Food

Regular rubbish bags might not do the trick when they're full of items that are perfectly edible (when you're a rat, anyway). Get into the habit of double-bagging each bag of rubbish that goes into your outside bin. Make sure these bags are closed tight, essentially reducing the odours that can escape. You can also get scented bags that will disrupt the rat's ability to identify the contents of the bag as food. If you can't find scented bags, a light spritz of diluted ammonia over the bag will also work.

Preventing Access

How easily can a rat actually get into one of your outside bins? If you're using the standard-issue council bins with a hinged lid, get into the habit of placing a small weight on top of the lid to prevent it from inadvertently opening. Even something like a brick will do the job. If possible, move your bins away from any nearby walls and fences so that a rat cannot climb this structure and then drop down onto the bin.

Your Bins

The bins themselves might need an upgrade of sorts. Maybe the existing council rubbish collection is too infrequent for your needs. Consider hiring a private collection company with a greater frequency of collection. They might even provide their own additional bins, and if they do, make sure they have a lid. You should opt for a company who are also bin cleaning contractors, meaning that your rubbish bins will be regularly disinfected and deodorised. This eliminates the scent that can attract rats.

You probably already do a lot to keep rats out of your kitchen, but are you doing enough to keep rats out of your rubbish once it leaves your kitchen? For more information, contact a company like Kerbside Clean-A-Bin.


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