Happy Friday — we’re back with more Hot Bones. As someone who wears a US Open tennis hat pretty much daily, I’m delighted to report that a whole new pickleball-specific facility just opened in the old Marshall’s building near Whole Foods. Pickleballers, this is your new home.

You get 9 indoor courts, food and refreshments, event spaces — and you never again have to hear the salty comments from grumpy tennis players waiting their turn at the city courts. Deets on Cville Smash here.

In other news, last week’s edition was all about saving up to 50% off your next grocery run. This week, we’re diving into a very unique business that makes trash less trashy.

A few weeks ago, G was feeling kind of sick and spent Sunday curled up on the couch. At one point, she poked her head up from a mountain of pillows and blankets and said, “I’ve been trying not to tell you something, but I can’t hold it in any longer.”

I took her hand and tried to ignore the chorus of Mr. Brightside blasting inside my head: “What’s up? You can tell me anything.”

“So there are maggots in our trash can.”

Of all the things G could have told me at that moment, this was not one of them. Mr. Brightside turned to a gentle hum, replaced by the full orchestra of Mendelssohn’s Funeral March.

“Oh no.”

“Like, hundreds of them.”

“Double no.”

“I yelled when I opened our trash bin this morning. It’s evil in there.”

I looked out the window where our recycling bin, compost bin, and trash bin all stood innocently in the side yard.

“Hmmm. What’s that quote from Churchill? ‘We’re all worms, but I do believe I’m a glowworm’?”

“What? I’m not a glowworm. These are maggots.” G dove deeper into the blankets. “And I’ve done some research. Apparently this is a super common problem, especially in the summer for people who have pets and deal with pet waste.”

“And how do we get rid of them?”

“There’s a lot of stuff on the internet about pouring boiling water into your bin, which kills maggots apparently.”

The idea of our beautiful, robin’s egg blue kitchen tea kettle getting anywhere near maggot city made me ill now.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. But you’re sick,” I said, “maybe it’s better to rest and let me deal with it.”

Then I ran downstairs and googled like my life depended on it.

And my prayers were answered! God bless small local businesses. Charlottesville Bin Cleaners comes right to your curb, cleans your bins with a special machine, and most importantly, does not judge you for having a maggot problem.

I immediately paid the 60 dollars for a one-time clean — and to be clear I would happily have paid 600 dollars. As far as I was concerned, if I couldn’t solve this problem with googling from a distance, my only other option was to set our trash can on fire and let the Fontaine CFD deal with the fallout.

After payment, the only other thing I had to do, besides haul our trash can to the front of the driveway without vomiting, was to add our trash schedule information into the Cville Bin Cleaner platform. They took things from there.

And when I say they took things from there I mean that as soon as the city trash crew unknowingly dumped our colony of maggots into their truck, the Cville Bin Cleaner truck pulled up and started to work its magic.

I know this because all day I worked from home, sitting on the couch next to the front window, watching our trash can like the Sad Pablo Escobar meme.

And when G got home from work (feeling much better after I scheduled our bin cleaning service, interestingly), she helped me monitor. And our dog, Frances, got in there, too, all three of us lined up in the front sidelite, staring at Jake from Cville Bin Cleaners as he blasted any remaining maggots with highly pressurized, super hot water. When he would look up, we would duck behind the door like three babies in a trench coat or the world’s dumbest spies.

You’re doing great, Jake! Just don’t bring that trash can any closer yet. We’ll be here behind this plate glass for a bit longer!

He ran our trash bin (and compost bin) through their special machine (pictured later in the newsletter), and then did more specific pressure washing with a hose. It took about 10 minutes. And then life was once again maggot-free. Bliss comes in many forms these days.

When G went to bring in the bins later that night, I got a text from her, which I can’t find because iMessage search is the worst. But it went something like, “honestly, I would eat off this trash can.”

With the majority of my brainspace no longer consumed with visions of maggots escaping our tightly sealed trash can and crawling through our walls, I could devote some time to learning more about Cville Bin Cleaners.

It’s a pretty unique business setup, and they’re seeing a lot of traction from freaked out people like me and G, as well as people who have bear and pest issues or really annoying HOA rules.

Cville Bin Cleaners launched this past March, and it’s run by the husband and wife team Jake and Marianne Crowley.

I chatted with them recently, and after saying profuse thanks for helping us live life without maggots, my first question was of course who’s running ops and who’s driving the truck. (Marianne does their marketing along with her full-time job, and Jake does the cleaning and talks with clients).

Beyond that, here are the 5 things that really stood out to me about this service:

The spark

Last summer, Jake and Marianne moved back to the area after living in Utah. They have two young kids and wanted to be closer to family.

“We were looking for a small local business idea that really serves a need in our community. And like most people, we live with our nasty garbage, especially when we have kids and diapers and pet waste — and just kind of run from the smell,” Marianne said.

Jake remembered a former coworker who ran a trash bin cleaning service because he lived in an HOA community where everyone had to keep their bins in their garage, “and so he was extra aware of how nasty they could get, and I think it was that conversation, honestly, that sparked the idea.”

Right now, they’re the only company in the area offering bin cleaning services, besides probably a few kids with dish soap, a hose extension, and a lot of gumption.

The machine

“The system that we have is really slick. … The lift picks up the garbage bins and steam cleans them within minutes,” Marianne explained. Then “we inspect them to make sure everything is clean — they could go up again [as needed], but the system is pressure washing with hot water so there’s no harsh chemicals. It’s all steam.”

“And then the water … from the cleaning cycles gets recaptured into the [truck’s] hopper.”

It’s pretty mesmerizing to watch.

The sustainable materials

Marianne mentioned they don’t use any harsh chemicals. Instead, “it’s the 200 degree heat and the high pressure that steam cleans the bins inside and out.”

“We do spray it with some essential oils, just for that kind of ‘after-smell’ and do some disinfecting naturally.”

Marianne mentioned the choice to avoid toxic chemicals was intentional, and also they just don’t need them because the heat and pressure already do the job.

“We just want things to be naturally disinfected and have that nice scent at the end of the service,” she said. Like aftershave, but for your trash cans.

The before-and-after photos

I asked Jake what the most “memorable” cleanings have been so far (hopefully not ours).

“There’s been a few that have been pretty bad. But those are the ones I get most excited about,” he said. “The before-and-after pictures are crazy. They don’t even look like the same garbage can. They’ll be filled with dirt or who knows what, and then tons of bugs or maggots [not just us!], and you open the lid and flies start flying out.”

“I get most excited about those ones because the customers will usually reach back out to us at some point.”

And remember, no judgment (this isn’t the dentist’s office).

Marianne added that a lot of their recent success boils down to how ecstatic people are about their bins finally being clean. “We kind of geek out over it,” she said. “People coming out and talking to Jake and sharing that excitement has been really fun.”

Bonus reasons

One of the first Hot Bones editions I wrote was about a snake getting into our house — a story that made we wonder if a warming planet would mean we’d have to deal with scary critters more often. The answer is yes. Maggots.

This fairly novel concept of trash bin cleaning also proves that point. And Charlottesville as a location takes that one step further: It’s hot and humid in the summer and gets miserable and dark in the winter without being super cold. Perfect breeding grounds for filth.

So the roughly 20,000 households in Charlottesville proper alone are all either already target customers or will be the next time a heat wave rolls around and someone forgets to firmly shut their trash can before leaving for a 2-week vacation. Summers are expected to get hotter and wetter, and we’ve already added 10 more winter days above freezing in the past decade.

“I definitely think the … milder climate [is] making it possible for us to continue,” Marianne said.

“If we were in some super cold [area] our system could freeze.” But beyond the weather, “the people here, you know, the Charlottesville area has always been very local business friendly. And I love that. … We've gotten a lot of good support.”

Thanks for the chat, Jake and Marianne! Great to have yall in the community to save us from maggots and irate neighbors.

Not an ad, but Jake and Marianne are sharing a special offer for Hot Bones readers.

Get 50% off your first visit with any recurring service plan (bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly) with the promo code: HB50.

(You’ll see the prompt on the payment details page during sign up.)

This is good through the end of the year, so I think you should be set now on last-minute holiday gifts that are way better and weirder than a National Geographic subscription.

Results from last week: The best fall soup is …

So many SLFs they’re showing up on weather radars like rain clouds.

🌾 Meal of the week: This meal is actually beer, and it’s free when you bring a gently used children’s or adult bike this Sunday, 1–6pm to the Selvedge parking lot. Every bike donated helps Cville Community Bikes give refurbished bikes to kids in need.

🏡 Cool house of the week: How do you feel about living inside a fairy tale? 1930’s craftsman cottage with an updated kitchen, wood burning stove, and a huge magnolia out front (3 bed, 3 bath, 4 acre lot, $649k ← price reduced).

🦋 What’s better than a parade? A butterfly parade. This one is in Rappahannock County near Little Washington and includes family-friendly pollinator activities and hands-on science (Sunday from 2-4pm).

🐶 Pet of the week: Lexi! “Good citizen dogs” are chill companions that keep you company and don’t (usually) dig tunnels in your backyard. Lexi looks like one of them (black lab, 1 year, 50 lbs).

🌳 Family activity of the week: Who wants to hunt for acorns? Like, A LOT of acorns. The Dep of Forestry is looking for help collecting nuts so they can plant more trees. Species guide and bagging tips here.

💼 Job of the week: Communications Director at Bantam Communications (remote but their HQ is here in Cville, $80-$130k).

Have an event or rec you’d like to share? Hiring? Interested in advertising?

Share any and all info here.