What is ozone and how does it work?
Ozone is oxygen with a third atom, loosely held, which is why ozone is sometimes called trioxygen (O3). When ozone meets an odour molecule, that atom joins the molecule and changes the molecule, so the odour is destroyed rather than covered up. What's left of the ozone is ordinary oxygen.
Updated 12 October 2026
How does ozone break down odour?
The oxygen we breathe is two atoms joined (O2). Ozone is three (O3), and the third is loosely held. Most odours are molecules floating in the air. Ozone reacts with them by joining its third atom onto the odour molecule and changing it, so the odour is neutralised rather than masked. This is called oxidation.
In a garbage system, the ozone is continually coming in contact with odour molecules in the bins, the walls, the chute and the compactor. On this contact, the ozone oxidises them and turns itself back into ordinary oxygen. We usually find garbage odours are greatly reduced, or gone, within about 15 of installing our Garbage Doctor® systems.
Air fresheners work the other way: they tend to mask odours, but don't eliminate the underlying odour, leaving an unpleasant mix of fragrance and rubbish.
Is ozone safe?
Yes, at the levels we use, which are designed for odour control in refuse areas. In high concentrations, such as the levels used in "shock treatments", ozone irritates the eyes and lungs. That's why Australia sets a workplace limit, a peak of 0.1 parts per million, and why shock treatments are done in unoccupied spaces. The Garbage Doctor releases small amounts of ozone through many outlets close to the bins, and our licensed technicians set the output for your room and measure the level with an ozone monitor.
Most people can smell ozone well below the limit, at about 10 to 20% of it, so it's not unusual to notice a subtle smell of ozone. That smell tends to fade just when the odour would otherwise be at its worst, because the ozone turns back into oxygen as it breaks the odour down.
Like chlorine in a swimming pool, ozone is useful at the right dose for the application.
The Garbage Doctor is a commercial odour control system, designed for bin rooms and garbage chutes. The Garbage Doctor isn't suitable as an air purifier for homes or offices. A garbage system is a dumping ground for a building's waste, where the methods used in homes and offices, such as venting or HEPA filters, can't work.
Where does ozone come from?
Ozone forms in nature. The sun's ultraviolet light makes ozone high in the atmosphere, and lightning makes ozone in a storm. Part of the fresh smell after a thunderstorm is ozone, and you breathe a little ozone every day.
Ozone generators copy one of these methods. Some use ultraviolet lamps, like sunlight. Others use an electrical spark, called corona discharge, like lightning. Every Garbage Doctor uses our Si-Zone® UV process, because UV makes no nitrogen oxides, and a UV generator's output stays steady whatever the humidity. An electrical spark (corona discharge) makes nitrogen oxides as well as ozone, and in damp air they form nitric acid, which corrodes steel chutes and compactors.
Why is ozone made on site?
Ozone doesn't last. Ozone soon turns back into ordinary oxygen, so can't be stored or delivered. A machine has to make ozone on site, all the time, close to where the ozone is needed.
How is ozone used in a bin room?
The Garbage Doctor is an ozone deodoriser that runs 24/7: UV lamps inside the machine make the ozone, and PVC conduit targets the ozone as close as possible to the odour sources, such as the bins and the inside of the chute, where the ozone neutralises the odour before the odour travels through the building.
Releasing the ozone at many small points close to the source, rather than at one point in the room, means less ozone does the work. The output is adjustable: once the system is set up, the odours are neutralised and a neutral smell, or a very slight smell of ozone, is left.
How is this different from an ozone shock treatment?
A shock treatment fills an empty room with very high levels of ozone, usually 5 to 10 parts per million, 50 to 100 times the limit for occupied areas, for a few hours, to clear smells after a fire, a flood or mould. Nobody can go in until the ozone has turned back into oxygen or been vented safely, unless they wear the right protective equipment.
The Garbage Doctor works the other way: small levels of ozone, 24/7, targeted where the odour starts, in a room people still use. We don't provide equipment for shock treatments, or for homes.
What does ozone smell like?
Clean and sharp, like the air after a storm, or a photocopier at work. A very slight smell of ozone near the bins typically shows the machine is working. A strong smell means the machine is making more than the room needs, and we turn the output down.
Questions about ozone
Does ozone cover up the smell?
No. Ozone changes the odour molecules, so the odour is neutralised rather than masked.
Does ozone leave anything behind?
No chemicals are added, and there's nothing to refill. What's left of the ozone after reacting is ordinary oxygen.
Does ozone work on compactors and grease traps?
Yes. The conduit targets the ozone as close as possible to the odour source, whether that's the compactor's hopper, the grease trap or the bins.
Talk to us about your building
Call 1300-ODOURS (1300 636 877), or send us photos of your bin room and chute, and we'll recommend the right system.
More guides
- Types of ozone generatorsCorona discharge and ultraviolet ozone generators compared, and which is best for garbage odour control.
- Corrosion from ozone generators in garbage chutesHow the wrong kind of ozone generator can corrode a garbage system, particularly a steel chute base.
- Si-Zone ultraviolet ozone generatorsThe UV ozone generator inside every Garbage Doctor, with a long history of use against garbage odours.
- Electrical testing requirements for odour control equipmentWhy your supplier should be testing and tagging your odour control or scenting system, as local law requires.
- Duty of care surrounding the garbage systemWhy the owners corporation, strata committee or body corporate has a duty of care for the garbage system.
- How germicidal UV-C is used in garbage systemsHow germicidal UV-C differs from ozone, and where UV-C is used in garbage systems.
- What is photocatalytic oxidation?How photocatalytic oxidation breaks down garbage odours inside an air purifier.
- Using scented vapour for garbage odour controlHow scenting adds a pleasant fragrance once the odour is neutralised, in a chute, bin room or public space.
- Garbage chute cleaning: why a clean chute can still smellWhy a freshly cleaned chute can still smell, and how chute cleaning and odour control work together.
- Why air fresheners alone don't fix bin room odourWhy sprays mask bin room odour for a while, why the odour comes back, and what neutralises the odour.
- Do extraction fans stop bin room odour?Why an extraction fan moves bin room odour around rather than removing the odour, and what works instead.
- Air conditioning in bin rooms: why it spreads odourWhy air blowing over the bins spreads more odour, how to set the air conditioning, and what neutralises the odour.