maggots in wheelie bin

[jeremiah]

The flies are attracted to "off" smells - "off" meat, "off" eggs etc but not veggies. Also poop (from pet litter - should be flushed - and nappies - good luck with those).

They will lay their eggs as close to the source of the smell as they can, and plastic absolutely does not keep smells in, so they will lay around the rim of the bin if that's as close as they can get.

Foil does keep some smells in, but it's expensive to use it just for the bin. I keep meaty leftovers, eggshells, catfood pouches and even kitchen paper that's had any kind of contact with meat on it in the fridge until bin day, and get no maggots.

I remember the "good old days" before bin-liners, and the smell of a ripe dustbin on a summer's day. I remember lots of wasps, but no maggots, but I think that was because like most people we had some sort of fire and bones went on it. There wasn't any left-over meat - you ate that.

[Kayleigh]

The bin has not been emptied now for 3 weeks due to our holiday..Its very smelly atm.

We do put in a bin liner in as mentioned earlier, we also put dog poo in there wrapped in a perfume nappy sack that doesn't help with the smell..

I have put jays fluid all around the rim and the flies have stopped trying to get in.

[jestin.kemp]

Hi
To try and detract the flies - which always find a way in ........ I have bought a small space fly repellent and have adhered it to the inside of my wheelie bin lid by means of sticy back velcro and I've got another one attached by string via the bin lid handles - I try to remember to remove them both on bin day - don't want to lose them LOL. We've had a few maggots this summer - not sure if it's my repellents or the fact that it hasn't been very hot this summer.


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Reduce Carbon

[woolleymd]

Hi Kayleigh, If you get one of those small string bags you put wash tablets in, put mothballs inside it and tie it to the lid handle so that it is on the inside of the bin, this will deter flies from entering the bin and hopefully eliminate your maggot problem.

[posie]

Originally Posted by woolleymd

Hi Kayleigh, If you get one of those small string bags you put wash tablets in, put mothballs inside it and tie it to the lid handle so that it is on the inside of the bin, this will deter flies from entering the bin and hopefully eliminate your maggot problem.

That's a good idea, wooleymd, I always shake some peppermint oil over the plastic bags before I put them in the bin...seems to work, but not cheap, so I'm going to try the mothballs..

Welcome to WAB, wooley one......Posie..

[SheffieldLass]

Our bins get emptied fortnightly. Not very nice in the summer. Only I forgot to put mine out (3 weeks ago) as I was in a rush. So, yes I've had to put up with a rather strong smell from the bin area. I'm now hoping that the maggots will have dealt with everything in there and that by now I've got a nice load of fragrant compost instead. Quite a good way to recycle things, less landfill.

I've also had a two fledgelings fly into my window in the last few days. Kept meaning to move the young blackbird and bury it. After it had been there about 4-5 days it had become a pile of feathers. The same happened to a young dunnock. And it was maggots that had eaten them. So now in the summer I'lll just leave them and they'll get cleared away. No smell from them either ... In the winter I do have to bury them otherwise thay hang around for weeks.

[APC]

hmmm this is a subject close to my heart as I had never suffered from maggots or flies in my bin. Then, the binmen missed my bin 6 weeks ago. I got them out to empty it two days after and had more issues. Well, they took it again a fortnight later as normal. Then they missed it. I called them and said they'd missed it again but was only half full so not really worth them coming until next bin day.Wish I had insisted as a couple of days later, it was crawling with maggots. The bin was unemptied for almost 4 weeks. By the day it went, the maggots had spread to most other bins in the block. Grim. If they miss it again, I'm going to make the binmen clean my bin with their tongues.