Maggots in wheelie bin.

[flobadob]

I went to leave out our wheelie bin today and when I opened the lid there were maggots inside it on top of the rubbish. We usually only dump our wheelie bin every couple of months but this is the first time that I've ever sen maggots in it, over 5 years of having one. The irony is that after the last time we dumped it I sprayed Jeyes Fluid into it but obviously a fat lot of good that did.

Has anyone else had this problem, and is there anything that can be done to prevent maggots from growing inside a wheelie bin?

[Lore]

We put a heavy stone on ours to stop any flies getting in there in the first place, after a nasty bunch had a party in our bin!
Boiling water and vinegar will kill them off, not a nice job though :(

[RATTER15]

>>>>We usually only dump our wheelie bin every couple of months<<<<< ??

Just ensure that everything is in bags and securely tied and emptied regularly.

[betterman]

Bleach and boiling water, done the job for me.

[Khandro]

"We put a heavy stone on ours to stop any flies getting in there in the first place." OK, but that is not the full story, flies lay eggs on food in your house before you deposit it in the bin and they then develop into maggots in there. Here in Germany we have different bins and foodstuff goes into a 'Bio' bin, so you can't wrap stuff in plastic, though you can get biodegradable plastic ones. Try hard not to leave unwanted meat leftovers etc. lying about and make parcels wrapped in newspaper as quick as you can. Boiling water will kill them if you are unfotunate enough to have them in you bin.

[Lore]

See, that's where I'm going wrong. I leave plates of food sitting around the house until its bin day (every other Wednesday) then I just scrape it all into the bin - who needs bags? :p

[ChuckFickens]

And the leftovers make handy snacks as you walk about the house :)

[tamborine]

keep flies out.

[gingejbee]

Khandro: many councils in the UK operate a "food-waste" system- all food-waste is placed in a separate container and is collected weekly. I've never had problems with flies or maggots with this system. Unfortunately, there is no single system in the UK - different councils have different policies concerning household waste.

[Lore]

It's an excellent system, Chuck. Especially if I'm late home from work and too tired to cook.

[rowanwitch]

Tip the maggots onto your lawn the birds love them

[McMouse]

Maggots are good bait when fishing.

[JonnyBoy12]

You can get services that clean wheelie bins that go around from home to home. The cost starts from about £2.50 per bin I believe.

[Jemisa]

Its up to you Floba, don't let it happen. Before putting scraps in the bin 'Wrap them' in newspaper, make sure there is no wet food. You only have to let one fly get in and it will lay its eggs, in 3 days you have an infestation..
No one to blame except yourself. Prevention is better than cure.

jem

[Buenchico]

It does seem that some people are forgetting what their parents (or grandparents) probably taught them about putting food into dustbins (or into wheelie bins, as they've now become).

When I was young, my mother would have been furious if I put even a single bacon rind into the dustbin without wrapping it in at least three layers of newspaper. If you wrap all food waste (either in newspaper from the freebies which drop through the door or using spare biodegradable carrier bags) then the flies can't get at the food, so they can't lay any eggs(which turn into maggots).

It's not rocket science!

[theprof]

OK Folks, I'll give you an infallible method of putting a stop to this. It's based on some lateral thinking we had to do at a UK defence laboratory a few years ago.

All you need to do is to get or make a small, porous bag made of fine muslin or similar material and fill it with strong curry powder. We used an 85g container of vindaloo curry made by Schwartz. Add a bit of chilli powder as well if you've got any to hand. You'll next need to secure the bag to the inside wall or inside base of the wheelie bin inside a vented enclosure to stop the bag dropping out when the wheelie bin is lifted. Try to keep the bag as dry as possible.

You'll be maggot free in no time. The curry powder will be effective for many months as long as it's kept dry.

[Hopkirk]

Even if you don't have a weekly food waste collection, using that system should stop it.

We have a plastic caddy with a hinged lid, that lives under our sink. This gets lined with a green biodegradable liner, and all food scraps go into it. When it is nearly full the green bag is tied and moved to the wheelie bin for disposal.