The best bathroom trash cans
The smallest appliance in the bathroom, and the one most often bought twice because the first was the wrong shape.
By Sawyer V. · · How we research
The short answer
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Quick picks
Tap any row for the full write-up. Prices are checked against Amazon rather than remembered — where we have no verified figure the button says so.
| # | Product | Best for | Renter | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  9L Slim Step Trash Can A published 3.6 inch width, slow-close lid, pedal rated for 150,000 steps and a 10-year warranty. | A narrow gap beside the toilet or vanity | Safe | |
| 2 |  4.5L Round Step Can A published 4.5 liter bin that simplehuman states is for “smaller spaces like a bathroom”, with the same lid and warranty. | A cloakroom or a bathroom with almost no floor | Safe | |
| — |  10L Slim Open Can A well-made open can, and an open bin is the wrong thing in the one room where a lid earns its keep. | Skip this one | Safe | No buy link |
Buy on footprint, not capacity
Liters is the number on the box and it is almost never the constraint. Bathrooms do not generate much waste; they just have nowhere to put a bin.
The useful number is width, because a bathroom bin lives in a gap. Measure the space between the toilet and the wall, or between the vanity and the door swing, before you look at anything else.
Which makes it frustrating that simplehuman publishes dimensions for only one of the three cans here — the 9L, at 3.6 inches wide. For the 4.5L and the 10L it publishes capacity, liner code and warranty, and no measurements at all.
In the absence of a figure, the 9L is the safe buy precisely because you can check it against your gap.
Step, open or sensor
Step cans are the right default for a bathroom. Hands-free matters in a room where your hands are wet or soapy, and the lid keeps contents and odor in. The trade is a pedal and a hinge, which are the parts that eventually fail — hence simplehuman publishing a 150,000-step pedal rating and a ten-year warranty.
Open cans have no moving parts and are ADA-friendly, which is a genuine advantage for anyone who cannot operate a pedal. The cost is that everything is on show.
Sensor cans exist and we are not recommending one here. They need batteries or charging in a humid room, and none of the makers we cover publishes an ingress rating for bathroom use. That is an unpublished specification on an electronic device in a wet room, and we will not guess at it.
The liner question, which is a running cost
Both of the cans we recommend use simplehuman’s own coded liners — Code R for the 9L and 10L, Code A for the 4.5L — and this is worth understanding before you buy.
The upside is real: simplehuman publishes that custom-fit liners give “No bunching, slipping, or messy overhang”, and the 9L has a built-in pocket holding a 20-pack. Anyone who has fought a supermarket carrier bag into a bin knows the difference.
The downside is that it is a proprietary consumable for the life of the bin. Ordinary bags will physically work, they just look untidy and slip down. Factor it in, and note that the two sizes use different codes — buying one of each means stocking two liners.
Emptying it is the actual maintenance
A bathroom bin holds damp waste in a warm, humid, poorly ventilated room. That combination is why bathroom bins smell and kitchen bins of the same age do not.
Empty it on a schedule rather than when it is full — a bathroom bin is rarely full and frequently unpleasant. Wipe the inner bucket out occasionally; both step cans publish a removable inner bucket, which is exactly what makes that possible.
If your bathroom is persistently damp, the bin is a symptom rather than the cause. The same conditions are what make towels smell and grout darken. The damp-bathroom problem is covered here.
Nothing here needs installing
All three rate Safe on our install rating in the most complete sense available: they are freestanding objects placed on a floor. No drilling, no adhesive, no tools, nothing to make good.
That is worth saying because the alternative — a bin that mounts inside a vanity door or on a wall — is a drilling job for a few inches of floor space, and in a rental it is not available at all. The wider small-bathroom storage picks are here.
Every pick in full
2 we would buy, and one we would not. Each carries its Renter-Safe Install Rating, the published specs behind it, and the honest gap in what we know.
1. Best overall
9L Slim Step Trash Can
simplehuman · CW2135 · best for a narrow gap beside the toilet or vanity
A published 3.6 inch width, slow-close lid, pedal rated for 150,000 steps and a 10-year warranty.
The simplehuman 9L Slim Step Can wins because it publishes the dimension that actually decides this purchase.
simplehuman states 3.6″ W x 7.1″ D x 9.9″ H. A bathroom bin lives in a gap — beside the toilet, under the basin, between the vanity and the wall — and 3.6 inches is narrow enough to fit gaps that defeat a round bin, while 9 liters is more than most bathrooms need.
The lid matters more than people expect. simplehuman publishes “Lid Shox technology” for an “effortless, slow close”, which in a room with hard surfaces and thin walls is the difference between a bin and a noise.
Two durability specs stand out: a steel pedal “engineered to last over 150,000 steps”, and a “10-Year Warranty” — the longest on this site by some distance.
Renter-Safe Install Rating
- Drilling
- None
- Tools
- None
- Time to fit
- None — it is placed on the floor
- Power
- None
- Reversible on move-out
- Fully
Why: A freestanding object. There is no mounting step of any kind and nothing to make good on move-out day.
Read from published documentation, not from fitting one. simplehuman — 9L Slim Step Can, published capacity, dimensions, materials and warranty. How the verdict is derived: renter-safe ratings explained.
What’s wrong with it
Code R liners are a proprietary consumable. Ordinary bags will bunch and slip in it.
What we can’t tell you
simplehuman publishes no maximum load and no guidance on damp waste, which is what a bathroom bin mostly holds.
Published specifications
| Capacity | 9 liters |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 3.6″ W x 7.1″ D x 9.9″ H |
| Materials | Stainless steel exterior; removable inner bucket in “100% post-consumer recycled plastic” |
| Lid | Step pedal with “Lid Shox technology” for “effortless, slow close” |
| Pedal life | Steel pedal “engineered to last over 150,000 steps” |
| Finish | Brushed, matte black, white, polished or matte gold, with an “invisible silver-ion coating” |
| Liner | Code R custom-fit liners, with an in-can liner pocket |
| Warranty | “10-Year Warranty” |
| Maximum load | Not published |
Source: simplehuman — 9L Slim Step Can, published capacity, dimensions, materials and warranty
#ad Price $80.00 as of October 18, 2026. Prices change; Amazon’s listing is the one that counts. How we’re funded.
2. Best for a tiny bathroom
4.5L Round Step Can
simplehuman · CW1852 · best for a cloakroom or a bathroom with almost no floor
A published 4.5 liter bin that simplehuman states is for “smaller spaces like a bathroom”, with the same lid and warranty.
The 4.5L Round Step Can is the pick when the 9L is simply too much object.
simplehuman publishes it as “compact” and explicitly “for smaller spaces like a bathroom or an office” — a rare case of a maker naming the room.
You keep the good parts: the same “patented lid shox technology” for a “slow, silent close”, the same pedal rated “over 150,000 steps”, and the same “10-Year Warranty”.
The inner bucket is published as “at least 75% post-consumer recycled plastic”, and it takes Code A liners rather than Code R.
Renter-Safe Install Rating
- Drilling
- None
- Tools
- None
- Time to fit
- None — it is placed on the floor
- Power
- None
- Reversible on move-out
- Fully
Why: A freestanding can. No mounting of any kind.
Read from published documentation, not from fitting one. simplehuman — 4.5L Round Step Can, published capacity, lid mechanism, materials and warranty. How the verdict is derived: renter-safe ratings explained.
What’s wrong with it
4.5 liters empties often in a shared bathroom, and it uses a different liner code from the 9L.
What we can’t tell you
simplehuman publishes no dimensions at all for this model, which on a page about footprint is a real gap.
Published specifications
| Capacity | 4.5 liters |
|---|---|
| Intended use | simplehuman publishes it as “compact” and “for smaller spaces like a bathroom or an office” |
| Lid | “patented lid shox technology” that “controls the motion of the lid for a slow, silent close” |
| Pedal life | “Strong steel pedal is engineered to last over 150,000 steps” |
| Materials | Stainless steel; “black inner buckets are made with at least 75% post-consumer recycled plastic” |
| Finish | Brushed, polished, white or matte black; silver-ion coating on the brushed model |
| Liner | Code A custom-fit liners |
| Warranty | “10-Year Warranty” |
| Dimensions | Not published |
Source: simplehuman — 4.5L Round Step Can, published capacity, lid mechanism, materials and warranty
#ad Price $29.99 as of October 18, 2026 $35.00 (14% off). Prices change; Amazon’s listing is the one that counts. How we’re funded.
The one to skip
10L Slim Open Can
simplehuman · CW1225 · best for guest cloakrooms and offices, where nobody is hiding anything
A well-made open can, and an open bin is the wrong thing in the one room where a lid earns its keep.
The skip here is a format judgment, and it is the main decision on this page.
The 10L Slim Open Can is genuinely good. simplehuman publishes a “narrow, space-efficient shape with an open lid for quick, easy daily trash disposal”, ADA compliance, the same extra-thick Code R liners and a “5 Year” warranty. With no pedal and no hinge there is nothing to break.
But a bathroom bin holds damp tissue, cotton pads, packaging and other things people would rather not display. An open top shows all of it, and it lets odor out of the one room where that matters most.
There is a second, less obvious problem: an open bin in a bathroom collects airborne moisture, and damp waste in an unventilated room is exactly how a small bathroom starts to smell.
Buy it for a downstairs cloakroom or a home office. For a family bathroom, take the lid.
Renter-Safe Install Rating
- Drilling
- None
- Tools
- None
- Time to fit
- None — it is placed on the floor
- Power
- None
- Reversible on move-out
- Fully
Why: Freestanding with no lid mechanism at all, so there is nothing to mount and nothing to wear out.
Read from published documentation, not from fitting one. simplehuman — 10L Slim Open Can, published capacity, finishes, liner code and warranty. How the verdict is derived: renter-safe ratings explained.
What’s wrong with it
No lid, so contents and odor are both on display in the room least suited to it.
What we can’t tell you
simplehuman publishes no dimensions for this model either — only the capacity.
Published specifications
| Capacity | 10 liters |
|---|---|
| Lid | Open top — no pedal, no moving parts |
| Materials | Stainless steel |
| Finish | Brushed, white or matte black |
| Liner | Code R custom-fit liners, “extra-thick and double-seamed” |
| Accessibility | Published as ADA compliant |
| Intended use | simplehuman publishes it for “hotel rooms or offices” with a “narrow, space-efficient shape” |
| Warranty | “5 Year” |
| Dimensions | Not published |
Source: simplehuman — 10L Slim Open Can, published capacity, finishes, liner code and warranty
There is no buy button on this one. It is easy enough to find if you want it anyway — we would rather point you at something that is still on the wall in a year.
Where to buy
Everything recommended on this page, in one place. Each link is an Amazon Associates link — we earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it never decides a pick.
- $80.00View on Amazon
9L Slim Step Trash Can
simplehuman · CW2135 · Renter verdict: Safe
- $29.99View on Amazon
4.5L Round Step Can
simplehuman · CW1852 · Renter verdict: Safe
#ad Prices are not shown because we only publish figures we have verified on the day. How we’re funded.
Questions people actually ask
what size trash can is best for a bathroom
Smaller than you think, and narrower than you think. Bathrooms generate little waste but have nowhere to put a bin, so width is the constraint — simplehuman publishes the 9L at 3.6 inches wide, which fits gaps a round bin cannot.
should a bathroom trash can have a lid
In a family bathroom, yes. A bathroom bin holds damp tissue and packaging in a warm humid room, and an open top displays the contents and lets odor out. An open can is fine for a guest cloakroom or an office.
do you need special liners for a simplehuman bin
Not strictly — ordinary bags work, they just bunch and slip. simplehuman publishes custom-fit codes (R for the 9L and 10L, A for the 4.5L) that avoid overhang, and it is a proprietary consumable for the life of the bin.
why does my bathroom bin smell
Damp waste in a warm, humid, poorly ventilated room. Empty it on a schedule rather than when full, and wipe out the removable inner bucket. If the room itself never dries, the bin is a symptom rather than the cause.
Sources
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