The fact is, your garbage stinks. And that garbage, therefore, makes your garbage receptacle stink.

It's among the certainties in life.

Now comes along Blast-N-Clean LLC, a growing West Side venture that's trying to bring a whole new aroma into the picture.

Like, say, lemony fresh.

"It gives it a nice citrus smell," says Terry Whitlock, the company's executive vice president of sales and marketing, after cleaning a particularly foul-smelling receptacle recently.

The company at 4485 Irving Blvd. N.W., a wholly owned subsidiary of Amestoy Enterprises, last week unveiled its patented automated waste cart cleaning system during the California Resource and Recovery Association's annual conference.

The cleaning vehicles — which look like retrofitted garbage trucks — use a robotic arm to lift the receptacle into the truck's "washing chamber," where it's hit by a high-pressure concoction of water and chemicals approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

For a residential garbage bin, the process takes 15 seconds; it's two minutes for large commercial bins.

The chemicals, according to Whitlock, have a residual cleaning effect, so garbage cans need cleaning only three times a year.

Blast-N-Clean is touting itself as the next great breakthrough in the world of solid waste.

"We're going to be to the waste industry what Eclipse (Aviation) is to the aviation industry," Whitlock said.

That, he says, is not just because the company makes sweet-smelling garbage cans. It's more about helping the people avoid washing cans in their driveways and sending potentially hazardous runoff back into public waterways, Whitlock said.

"A quarter of the people in the U.S. wash trash cans and dump it in the driveway," Whitlock said.

The company is aiming its business model at securing contracts from government solid waste divisions, many of which are working to improving environmental safeguards.

"We can help them achieve EPA clean water goals," Whitlock said.

So far, the company has secured a contract with Bernalillo County to run a pilot program where it will clean 2,000 residential garbage carts every three months, most of which are in the North Valley, said Kim McKibben, director of the county's Solid Waste Department.

The company's truck follows close behind the residential garbage truck, picking up the empty bins and blasting them with the water and chemical mixture.

The county has set aside $32,000 to fund the pilot project, about $12,500 of which has been used since February, she said.

While the company had a few kinks to start out, McKibben said the project is now working smoothly.

"We've had a few calls, with people wondering why their cart was cleaned and if they were going to have to pay for it," McKibben said. "A couple of people called to say they were really happy about it, their cart was really stinky."

McKibben said the county in the past has handled cart-cleaning requests by recommending that residents clean them on their own.

"It's not bad if a few people are doing it, but if everybody's doing it that's going to be an issue," she said.

Looking forward, she sees some emerging trends within the solid waste industry that could make the service beneficial. Some cities, for example, are beginning to collect more food waste and grass clippings — two categories known for unkind odors.

"With these guys starting this pilot project to see what it's going to do, I thought it was well worth the money to check that out ahead of time," she said.

The company — with 15 employees and plans to hire 20 more by year's end — is optimistic about its growth potential.

Whitlock said the company has plans to build a facility to assemble its trucks on Second Street near Osuna Road Northwest where it plans next year to produce 90 residential trucks and 36 for commercial use.

Over the next five years, the company projects it will have 800 residential trucks and 400 commercial trucks, he said. By 2010, he said, it will have outgrown its facility and already is eyeing land at Mesa del Sol.

The average charge for the service, he said, is $18 per year, per resident for three cleanings.

Blast-N-Clean is also leasing out its technology and equipment to entrepreneurs in other states. So far, Whitlock said the company has reached agreements with operators in San Antonio, Texas; Denver; Boise, Idaho; and in Montana.

In other words, Blast-N-Clean is projecting a future that doesn't stink.

"We're creating a whole new game in the waste industry," Whitlock said.