Maggots!! ??

We've just had this problem with our black bin during the hot weather.it can be a big problem when they are only emptied every 2 weeks. A couple of kettlefuls of boiling water sorted it out, and then a thorough clean with disinfectant after the bin was emptied. Needless to say I left this job to hubby!!

A liberal shake of salt all over your waste will stop flies from using your leftover food as a lurve nest.

A squirt of malt vinegar seems to have done the trick for us

OMG this reminds me of an old neighbour where I used to live. She called me to ask for help as she had maggots in her wheelie bin. She didn't use bin liners and just threw the rubbish straight into the bin so you can imagine what it was like. She had filled her bin with boiling water (heavens knows how many kettles she had boiled) and poured bleach into the water. However the little blighters were blithely swimming amongst her rubbish and crawling up the sides of the bin. I didn't have a clue how to help her. Her partner came home from work and took the bin around to the garage block. He poured paraffin into the bin and set light to it!!! Well it got rid of the maggots but there was nothing left of her bin either! I have always used bin liners for my rubbish in my indoor bin. Anything particularly smelly gets bagged up into smaller bags, (used bread bags sometimes). My only problem is the kitchen bin liners I use are Brabantia and they have small air holes in them so I will have to watch out for maggots too!

I put a small plastic bag (now permitted by council) in my kitchen food waste bin which when full is tied up and transferred to the outside food waste bin which also has a liner. Black bin has a liner which is tied up for collection day. I have to have my bins “lifted” because I cannot manage to pull them up the drive. My method means the bin man only has to take the bags saving him dragging the bins back and forth.

Bleach kills germs not flies! Fly spray kills flies. Keeping all waste wrapped and having your bin cleaned will help prevent your maggots. Never ever place open food stuffs in a bin! All our waste is either flushed away/well wrapped then put in bin liner too/put into compost bin of veg.based. nothing is put naked into any bins.its asking for trouble!

I've only had maggots in our waste bin once and used boiling water.
Problem solved.

Bijou

I put a small plastic bag (now permitted by council) in my kitchen food waste bin which when full is tied up and transferred to the outside food waste bin which also has a liner. Black bin has a liner which is tied up for collection day. I have to have my bins “lifted” because I cannot manage to pull them up the drive. My method means the bin man only has to take the bags saving him dragging the bins back and forth.

Weren’t biodegradeable bags for the food waste bin always allowed? They were here, and IIRC we were initially given a few. They’re readily available in supermarkets. Personally I’d find it pretty gross to put any food in a bin without a liner.

I have maggots in hot weather in the outside bin. They craw up the inside and fall out and there is usually some lovely big toads or frogs waiting for them below.

yellowcanary

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

The ones I bought ARE compostable not recyclable like I previously stated…?‍♀️…but no Our council don’t provide them I’ve had to buy them myself ..

BassGrammy

We've just had this problem with our black bin during the hot weather.it can be a big problem when they are only emptied every 2 weeks. A couple of kettlefuls of boiling water sorted it out, and then a thorough clean with disinfectant after the bin was emptied. Needless to say I left this job to hubby!!

Ours are only emptied every three weeks!! ?

If I ever get maggots in the bin, I just leave the lid open for a little while. The birds soon eat them.

Sprinkle salt over the biodegradable food bags when they are in the outside bin-works a treat and it lasts longer than fly spray.

Great idea

We are lucky enough to get free recyclable food bags from our council, so the bags are used in our small container on the worktop, and are tied and put in the bin when full, so there is never unwrapped food in our bin.

Sorry - compostable bags.

yellowcanary

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

We used to have the compostable bags from the Council in our area of Wales, yellowcanary but now the Council recommends using any small plastic bags eg bread bags as the waste gets squeezed out at the recycling plant then the bags aee sent to make electricity at another plant.

Vinegar is supposed to be a good way of getting rid of and preventing maggots without the use of chemicals or more plastic. One part vinegar to two parts water. I haven’t actually tried it myself as I haven’t had the problem but a friend uses it. Failing that feeding the birds seems like a plan ?

Apologies (hadn’t read about the compostable bags when I posted), no offence intended, was just replying to an idea about putting food waste in a separate bag.

Had the issue 8 years ago, when we moved to a new recycling system. Washed everything in bleach solution and went back to bin and caddy liners which we'd stopped using for eco reasons. Biodegradable bags are just weak and dreadful...

Flies do have a role in the ecosystem, you know. Kill too many of them and we'd be surrounded by corpses of dead wildlife... We're already worrying about a general shortage of insects...

As an alternative to binning food waste and using plastic bags, I'd suggest that, if you have the space, you just dig a deepish hole and bury the meat based food waste. It's good for the garden. Just the meat based stuff, because that's what the flies that spawn the big maggots are after.

P.S I have to confess that any flies get past me and lay eggs on my cats' left over wet food I wash them away PDQ... There's a limit to my environmental concern.

But I try not to let uneaten wet food linger. Cats have access to the biscuit stuff during the day.

Yuk. I don't look in my bin just drop the stuff in. I rarely use bin bags as I hate the thought of all that plastic invthe landfil. I do have cat litter which is bagged so no doubt will have little friends. Two weeks is just too long for collections anyway

Ethelwashere1

Yuk. I don't look in my bin just drop the stuff in. I rarely use bin bags as I hate the thought of all that plastic invthe landfil. I do have cat litter which is bagged so no doubt will have little friends. Two weeks is just too long for collections anyway

Try three weekly bin collection!! ?

I bet that you absolutely love bin day Shinaemae!

FannyCornforth

I bet that you absolutely love bin day Shinaemae!

So bloody annoying, it was meant to be a trial, it’s been going on for three years!! I have spoken to the council and they said there’s nothing can be done about it…???