The 10 Best Diaper Pails to Put Away Used Baby Diapers

Unfortunately, diapers aren’t just gross. They smell bad. And no matter what garbage can you put them in, they keep don’t stop smelling. Dirty diapers can make your whole house smell, something nobody wants.

Diaper pails solve this by providing you with a special unit to dispose of your diapers. But diaper pails aren’t just another garbage can. They’re designed to trap in the odors from the dirty diapers so the rest of your home can smell like Sunday morning.

Here’s the problem. Products don’t always work as advertised. The last thing you need is to spend $30 on a diaper pail that doesn’t actually make a difference.

You need to be able to pick out the wheat from the weeds. We’ve done the gardening for you, and are happy to present our picks for the best diaper pails on the market.

Isn’t it time to say goodbye to a smelly home?

Things to Consider

You may be wondering what exactly it is you should be looking for in a diaper pail. Perhaps the best way to approach it is to think of it as a specialized garbage can.

1. Size

How big of a pail do you need? Obviously, not all pails are the same size. Do you just have one baby in diapers? Do you have several toddlers? Figure out how many diapers a day you go through. If you plan to keep the diaper pail in the nursery, consider how much room you have available as well.

2. Liner

For most regular garbage cans, any old bag will do. But for diaper pails, the right liner depends on what kind of diapers you use. If you use cloth diapers, then you’ll want a cloth liner. If you use the disposable ones then more of a standard garbage bag will work. Bear in mind that some pails are intended to work with specific liners.

3. Hands-free Operation

Changing diapers often requires both hands. Many pails are designed for hands-free opening, allowing you to tap the pail open and dump the waste in without having to touch the lid.

4. Air Seals

This is another important thing to look for. A good diaper pail has seals of some kind that are designed to trap the bad smells and prevent them from escaping. Diaper pails that don’t have these aren’t a significant improvement over an ordinary trash can.

5. Price

Diaper pails typically vary in price from around $20 to as much as $75 or so. There’s absolutely no reason to pay more than that for a diaper pail, so if you see one priced at $100 or more, look for something different.

QUICK OVERVIEW

The Best Diaper Pails

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Products	Features
EDITOR’S PICK 4.3 1,100+ 1100+ Playtex Diaper Genie Diaper PailPlaytex Diaper Genie Diaper Pail	Unit holds up to 270 diapers Money-saving refill unit included PRICE RANGE: Under $40 Unit holds up to 270 diapers Money-saving refill unit included PRICE RANGE: Under $40 Check price at Amazon
MOST REVIEWED 4.3 4,540+ 4540+ UBBI Steel Odor Locking Diaper PailUBBI Steel Odor Locking Diaper Pail	Made of Steel Child Safety Lock and Slow-Close Lid PRICE RANGE: Under $80 Made of Steel Child Safety Lock and Slow-Close Lid PRICE RANGE: Under $80 Check price at Amazon
TOP PICK 4.6 610+ 610+ Skip Hop Diaper Pail with Air-LockSkip Hop Diaper Pail with Air-Lock	Works with standard trash bags Special safety lid eliminates bacteria PRICE RANGE: Under $80 Works with standard trash bags Special safety lid eliminates bacteria PRICE RANGE: Under $80 Check price at Amazon
BUDGET PICK 4.3 90+ 90+ Creative Baby Tidy Diaper PailCreative Baby Tidy Diaper Pail	Holds up to 18 diapers at once Refill packs included PRICE RANGE: Under $40 Holds up to 18 diapers at once Refill packs included PRICE RANGE: Under $40 Check price at Amazon
BUDGET PICK 4.3 1,140+ 1140+ Safety 1st Easy Saver Diaper PailSafety 1st Easy Saver Diaper Pail	Fairly large size Lid snaps to seal in odors PRICE RANGE: Under $25 Fairly large size Lid snaps to seal in odors PRICE RANGE: Under $25 Check price at Amazon

Best Diaper Pails Under $25

Safety 1st Easy Saver Diaper Pail

People look for different things in a diaper pail. For some, the most important metric is hands-free operation. For others, its odor retention or the size of the bin. As it stands, the Safety 1st Easy Saver Diaper Pail is not going to top out anyone’s metrics for best diaper pail. It’s main advantage is its low price.

Don’t get me wrong. This is a perfectly capable diaper container. Although it’s not hands-free it’s easy to open and use, and the seal does a good job of trapping odors. It’s also pretty large, measuring 15 x 10.9 x 18.4 inches, and it works with standard trash bags.

The biggest issue I have with the diaper pail is that, aside from its low price and its design, it doesn’t really do anything to stand out from other pails on the market. This might seem like faint praise, but the truth is, the diaper pail works perfectly fine. It isn’t the best diaper pail out there, but it’s worth the price.

Best Diaper Pails Under $40

Dekor Classic Hands-Free Diaper Pail

As the name indicates, this is the first hands-free diaper pail on the list. The Dekor Classic Hands-free Diaper Pail provides a convenient, sanitary way to dispose of your diapers without the hassle of bending down to open the lid.

Like other diaper pails, there’s a special lid where you push the diapers through for sanitary reasons. Triple odor control helps to ensure that you never have to deal with an unwanted smell, and its plastic material holds in odors better than metal cans.

The Dekor Classic is big enough to hold up to 45 diapers at a time, and its easy open system makes emptying the pail a cinch. Replacement filters are inexpensive, so you won’t have to spend a lot of money on replacements.

Perhaps best of all, the diaper insert can be removed when your baby is grown, letting you use this just like any other trash can. And with its limited lifetime warranty, there’s no reason why you won’t.

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Creative Baby Tidy Diaper Pail

There’s a lot of good to be said about the Creative Baby Tidy Diaper Pail. It is still small but stylish, with a modern design that won’t look out of place in your nursery. What makes this pail so great is the smart way they’ve designed the opening. 

In an ordinary trash can, you just open it up and dump your garbage. This one is different. Once you lift the lid, there is an opening to throw the diaper in. When you do that, you have to rotate the lid to the other side to close it.

Like the Safety 1st diaper pail, this one doesn’t have a way to open it hands-free, which is disappointing. Nevertheless, it’s a smart design that presents a great way to fight the spread of bacteria.

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Playtex Diaper Genie Pail With Odor Control

Playtex is the leading name in the world of diaper pails, and for good reason. Their Diaper Genie Pail has plenty of room, commands excellent odor retention, and has a hassle-free hands-free opening that makes everything go just a little faster. 

First off, this container has a lot of room. Each bag can hold an average of 27 diapers. It has a built-in carbon filter at the top of the lid to filter out bad odors as soon as you open the container to dispose of your diaper.

Microbial filters and an air-tight clamp lock in any odors that can’t be eliminated, ensuring as few smells escape as possible. 

Disposing of the diapers is easy too. The front of the bin pops open, making it easy for you to tie the bag and take it out. Plus, the ergonomic foot pedal eliminates unnecessary bending every time you need to make a smelly deposit, which is great for your back.

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Dekor Plus Hands-Free Diaper Pail

If you like the Dekor Classic, but think you’ll need something larger, then you need the Dekor Plus Hands-free Diaper Pail. It offers the same smart design and sanitary, germ- and odor-fighting powers, but with a larger bin that can hold more waste.

Like the Dekor Classic, the Dekor plus is completely hands-free and uses triple odor control to keep the gross smells of your baby’s diaper in the bin where they belong.

Because of its odor-sealing technology, it is ideal for disposing of cloth ones as well. It’s also designed to make the transition to an ordinary trash can when your children are grown, just like the Classic.

The big difference here is the size. With 27 square inches, there’s room for up to 60 diapers, and that extra space makes this an ideal bin for cloth diapers, as they tend to take up more space than the disposable variety. Plus, the trap door makes it easier to dispose of the waste.

Best Diaper Pails Under $70

Busch Systems Odorless Cloth Diaper Pail

The Busch Systems Odorless Cloth Diaper Pail is a little bit different from the other bins on this list. While the Dekor Plus diaper pail can accommodate cloth diapers, Busch Systems designed a container that’s made specifically for cloth diapers.

While that means this diaper pail is targeted towards a specific market, that also means they can get the most mileage out of their design.Like the Diaper Genie, this pail employs a carbon filter to help reduce odors and prevent them from escaping.

It has a large lid that is easily removed but with clamps strong enough to prevent a toddler or small child from accidentally opening it or falling in.The main drawback here is that this just isn’t very big.

It only has seven gallons, so it won’t hold a huge amount of diapers at once. It is large enough to keep the stored away until its time to do laundry. Its wide brim makes it ideal for using the cloth bags best suited for capturing washable diapers.

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Janibell Akord Adult Diaper Pail

The Janibell Akord Adult Diaper Pail is the largest one on the market. This 11-gallon container with a foot pedal can fit up to 120 diapers for the ultimate convenience.

Made with ABS resin, this bin locks odors inside almost as well as steel, and it converts easily to an ordinary trashcan simply by removing the safety lid.

The design is sleek and efficient, and perfectly airtight, making it harder for odors to leak out. This isn’t the best bin on the market for controlling odors, but it is far and away the largest.

If you have two or three kids in diapers all at the same time, this might be a worthy investment for you. Otherwise, there are better, cheaper models out there.

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Munchkin Step Diaper Pail, Powered by Arm & Hammer

The Munchkin Step Diaper Pail has to be the most streamlined diaper pail I’ve ever seen. Its postmodern cylindrical appearance is almost elegant in its simplicity.

Thanks to a hand-free design, it’s also really easy to use.Its innovative design automatically closes the bag each time you close the lead, making it harder for odors to leak. Second, it is compatible with several different refill bags, making it more versatile than other diaper pails.

Perhaps best of all, Arm & Hammer is dedicated to planting a tree with every sale of this product. By buying this diaper pail, you’re actually giving back to the world. And that might be the greatest gift of all.

Best Diaper Pails Under $80

Ubbi Steel Diaper Pail

The Ubbi Steel Diaper Pail is at the high end of the price range for diaper pails but considering the materials it’s made from, that’s not surprising.

Unlike most other diaper pails, Ubbi doesn’t use proprietary diaper bags, preferring to save you money by using the same garbage bags you use for the rest of your cans.

Ubbi’s intuitive design doesn’t require a hands-free foot button, because it has a specially designed opening that allows you to insert diapers at any time, all without leaking the smell outward, while its steel construction traps odors and gives them nowhere to go.

Don’t take my word for it. Ubbi has won nine different awards for its innovative design. In fact, this pail is easily in the running with the Diaper Genie for the best diaper pail. It can hold up to 50 diapers as well, making it one of the largest diaper pails on the market.

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Skip Hop Diaper Pail with Dual Air-Lock

If you’re looking for an option that fuses the best of diaper pails and traditional garbage cans, the Skip Hop Diaper Pail may be just what you’re looking for. It can be used with regular 13-gallon garbage bags. 

The Diaper Champ is much like your standard 13-gallon garbage can, except that this one has a built-in storage compartment for your baby’s hygienic essentials. Plus, it’s easy to load in the diapers, and it’s also easy to take the bag out, unlike a lot of other diaper pails. 

The greatest thing about this pail is the fact that it has a child-proof lock, meaning it won’t let your toddler open up the lid. Last, the dual airlock system traps in the bacteria and smells until you take the bag out.

Conclusion

Diaper pails are not the most glamorous products in the world, and they aren’t even strictly necessary. My wife and I never knew about them when we were raising our kid, and he’s out of diapers now already.

But if you’re in the market for such a product, these are the best of the best. I hope you found what you’re looking for!