Maggots!! ??

We’ve just been issued with the food caddies and already everybody has been complaining about maggots. I haven’t had the problem but then I don’t eat meat or fish so that could be it. My kitchen caddy just has a few peelings, I mostly compost them. Tea bags and cooked scraps are wrapped in newspaper before putting in the bin which also has a compostable bag inside. The night before the bin men collect I tie the bag tightly and place in the outside caddy. So far, no maggots.

I only had bin maggots once. Since then, I have knotted the bin bags at the top instead of just tying them which leaves gaps. Then they can't get in and they can't get out.

I have a bin for recycling stuff & a bin for household waste, up till last year I was getting loads of maggots in the household waste bin, somehow the bluebottle flies got their way in. In the summer the bins get so hot & smelly inside I was always washing it out after each 2 week collection. This seems to have stopped since I use the big/large black bin bags particularly made for the large waste bins, and when they are due for collection tie up the top so that goes with bags of rubbish, therefore using a new liner every 2 weeks. Available in most large supermarket store, market stores and probably DIY shops. Might be worth a try. Perhaps the flies still get in but inside the nonlinear as opposed to the actual bin?

I had them too this week, and am mystified as to how they got there. I always tie the waste in a bag before putting it in the larger food waste bin. Didn't know they came from flies - always learn something from Gransnet! How long do they take to evolve from the eggs, as mine were bigger than the flies?

Yes we also get maggots in the food bin, we have been using boiling water to kill them but will now try fly spray. Some good tips here

We had them last week in our food waste bin despite the liner, which just disintegrated - ugh! Boiling water saw them off, but we emptied the caddy again yesterday and there were more!.
I am going to try using an old sealable bread crock for my food waste to see if that helps.

We have a food waste bin that is used for cooked leftovers. Peelings etc go in the compost bin. I use compostable bags for the food bin but usually see fly eggs around the rim. I wash it with a well diluted solution of Jeyes fluid before putting it out and tie the bag tightly. No problems as yet.

libra10

We had a maggot infestation in our wheelie bin. Now we use a plastic bin liner, and any meat leftovers are placed inside a sealed plastic bag. It seems to have solved the problem.

As per my pp, I also keep the tightly closed bags in the freezer until the night before the bin men come. We’ve never had maggots.

When I see flies in the black bin I hold my breath and spray the interior with bug spray. I haven’t seen any maggots so it must do the trick.

“I also keep the tightly closed bags in the freezer until the night before the bin men come.”

I do this too.

Shinamae

Just got my fly spray from Tesco’s £3.10! Liberally sprayed my black bin so hopefully this will get rid of them, the little blighters.. I had stopped using my green food waste bin which is kept outside anyway but I’ve just bought some recyclable small bags to put the food in while in the kitchen and then transfer it to the bin….

The fly spray worked!! ??

We have two cats who are very fussy and quite often leave some of their wet food. Rule one, no wet cat food till late afternoon, rule two always check cats food bowls and dispose of the food that is left. We have quite a few magpies, crows and jackdaws who pounce as soon as I put the food on the bird table. Also, I found a dead mouse one morning and threw it onto the garden path (to be moved when I had got dressed later on) couldn't find it an hour later and realised the birds had taken it, so any dead creature goes onto the bird table, making me and the birds happy, win, win! I did once put a dead bird, wrapped in a plastic bag in the bin, found it a couple of days later, rancid and covered in maggots, never again!

We have also had maggots around the edge of our black wheelie bin, on the bin liner, and the edge of the lid. I use antiseptic wipes to remove them all, then spray liberally with fly spray. They seem to have disappeared for now but were really bad during the very hot weather - yuk

I have found boiling water to be very effective for killing maggots in bin and less harmful to the environment than bleach.

I was dog sitting for a friend and opened his bag to give him his tea. There was a bag of chicken completely crawling with maggots. Heaven knows how long it had been there. Another vote for veganism from me!

Yes, in hot weather we have this problem too with the bin for ordinary household waste.

I empty the kitchen bin into a clear plastic sack, and before closing the sack I sprinkle either a little bleach inside it onto the rubbish, or sal amoniac. Then making sure there is as little air as possible trapped inside the sack I fold down the top and knot it closed using the right and left corners of the sack for making the knot.

On the evening when the bin goes out for collection early the following morning, I check that there are no maggots crawling around outside the plastic sacks or on the rim of the bin.

Once the bin is emptied I hose it thoroughly inside and out and let it air dry before closing the lid again.

I also rinse polythene, plastic and foil bags that have contained food of any kind before putting them in the kitchen bin.

Everything that goes into the recycling bin of tins, foil, glass jars or plastic is washed in the last of the washing up water first.

This way I find it possible to at least keep the maggots inside the plastic sacks if not to eradicate them entirely.

I have been wondering whether the bin should be moved to a shadier and thus cooler place, as it is only emptied once a fortnight here.

We had the same problem. Despite cleaning the bins regularly and spraying with bleach almost daily, they were still there.
I saw this online - spray a slice of bread with white vinegar and put it in the bin to keep flies away. I’ve been doing that for a few weeks now and haven’t t had any maggots in the bin since.

We're in the middle of a bin strike. The city looks like a refuse tip. In the meantime all my food scraps are put into an old icecream container and kept in the freezer.

I line my bin and bag everything that goes in it because maggots I cannot deal with. Went to my daughters and her bin was alive it made me physically sick. I will tell my daughter to try the bread trick.

Jeyes fluid in the bin . Nothing survives and it smells better .

Just spray fly spray in it twice a week, and you won’t get them in the first place!
No mess, no fuss

f77ms

Jeyes fluid in the bin . Nothing survives and it smells better .

Yes, I agree. And the Jeyes dustbin power is excellent too.

OMG Shinamae. I thought I was the only person who found maggots in the home.I picked up my mat to dust it outside and there were loads of maggots and when I pulled my large rug up there were hundred of maggots underneath and also in my bin. Never happened before and I cleaned much the same as you. Now I’m nervous about this infestation so keep examining regularly but it’s clean so far.

This happened to us a couple of years ago and bleach doesn’t kill them! The ONLY thing that kills maggots is Jeyes Fluid and, believe me, I’ve tried everything! You need to thoroughly wash out your bin with Jeyes Fluid using the whole can. Good luck!

Shinamae don't you have compostable bags from the council for your food waste - we do here in Wales, don't think they would accept recyclable bags? At the moment I'm having enough trouble with plastic recycling - the last twice (every fortnight) they have refused to take it, I've been doing the same thing ever since starting recycling however long ago it was, so getting rather fed up with them. Will throw my toys out the pram if it happens again