maggots in the wheelie bin- HELP!!

[iwastooearlytobeayummymummy]

Bin isn't being collected until Tuesday and is half full already.Just opened the lid and it's a maggot festival!
I had cleaned it out scrupulously last time it was emptied, (we're on fortnightly collection,) and virtually all food waste is in the food bin.

So what can I do, until it's emptied?
Anybody know any good maggot killing techniques?

It also pongs.
ps, thankfully all children very long past nappies

[scurryfunge]

Do you wrap you food waste up before putting it in?

Shovel it out rebag it and take it down the dump if you can't wait til Tuesday.

[MmeRedWhiteandBlueberry]

Spray it with bleach spray if you really can't stand them, but seriously, they are just part of the food chain. They are active in decomposing your waste. Do you really want it to be locked in a landfill for eternity?

[iwastooearlytobeayummymummy]

It's mainly unrecycalable stuff,like plastic wrap packaging, as virtually all food waste is an the seperate bin, but I suspect the odd scrap has got in by accident.

I'd got my DS 11 to take the bag out and he was freaked out when he opened the lid too..

[whomovedmychocolate]

It's very important to check your bin is closing properly, because obviously to get maggots you need to allow flies in.

If you use a broom you can shove them all back in the bin and close the lid tight - they they won't be wiggling on the top.

But they are harmless you know. Just icky.

[Chatelaine]

Not much you can do this cycle. It's about prevention next time. Seal all food waste, and keep that in the house until collection time. No big deal, just a discipline. The smell that maggots give off is close to ammonia and is revolting. I still have flash backs to the time, having returned from a few days away, and having left our teenage son at home, his "guests" naturally tipped their bbq waste into the wheelie bin and the flies did the rest. When we returned I remember lifting the lid to put something in and the inner lid was "moving"....and pink, It still makes me feel sick.
It was all hands on deck, and we tipped the rubbish from the bin into the middle of the lawn, bundled that up, and cleaned the wheelie bin on its side with hot water, broom and whatever cleaning products were to hand.

[DreamTeamGirl]

I do find boiling water kills them the quickest

Just two kettle fulls poured in and the lid jambed shut for 10 mins and they were all broiled
I know they are part of food chain- just would prefer they did their bit at local dump than in my bin!!

[iwastooearlytobeayummymummy]

I think i'll put a kettle of boiling water in there tomorrow, and look at somehow keeping it more tightly sealed.

Just annoyed that it was pristine 10 days ago having had a similar incident, but food waste in there then, so sort of expected it then,

Just checked food waste bin and that is fortunately clear.

Fortnightly collection is pain in this lovely weather. grrr

[Horshamchildminder]

We had them once, before I moved. We were on fornightly collection too. Me and DH stood for ages doing boiling water etc in the bin. We then realised, they were actually everywhere. Our hole driveway was a huge mass of them covering the entire drive - litterally. It was dark and we were standing in them without even noticing. It was HORRIBLE. I have no idea why it happened, although it was a week that we used disposable nappies. Boiling water wasn't any good for us as there was just so many of them. I can still picture it now. They were crawling into my house and everything. We used about 10-20 kettles of water and although it did kill them, it didn't even dent the amount that were there.

In the end, it was a combo of fly killer, and some trays of beer, I think. Put them out on the floor so all the maggots were attracted to it and then they drowned.

I was motified and can still remember every detail now. Makes me feel sick just thinking of it. I have no idea how there were so many without us realising.

[bibbitybobbityhat]

Get a roll of those compostable plastic bags or nappy sacks.

Scrape any cooked food waste into one of those and stick it in a remote corner at the bottom of your freezer. Add to it every time you need to get rid of food scraps.

Throw the lot away the night before collection.

[jazzandh]

For now try soda crystals liberally sprinkled in......

[ShirleyKnot]

oooh bibbity - YOU are genius!

When I was about 20 my parents went away on holiday for a fortnight and a friend stayed over with me. The day before they came back I opened a cupboard and found a catfood tin FULL of maggots which had then...no I still can't talk about it. Too traumatic.

[Fordy0508]

woke up this morning to maggots all over the bin and driveway!
Its the non recyclable bin but we have a baby so nappies have gone in there, but always sealed well in a nappy bag. i feel sick, hubby cleared driveway and its bin collection day today so we'll douse the bin with boiling water tonight! fingers crosed it works. Any other suggestions?

[AvidDiva]

As others have said, pour boiling water over to kill maggots, come back a little later and shovel in a good layer of soil/sand from garden - even sandy rubble will do. That'll keep the smell down until collection day and keep any surviving maggots from wriggling out.

[oxocube]

gross! We sometimes have this too - another fortnightly collection here too. I use the boiling water technique and then bleach and water once emptied. Yuch!!!! But thanks for the thread as I've just rememberd to put my bin out today - they collect v early here

[BooKangaWonders]

cleaning my wheely bins is the only housework job that I love! Only once a fortnight, and there's such a sense of satisfaction that I never get from the never-ending mess that is in the house. (v sad)

So every 2 weeks you'll see me with a bucket of v hot water, lots of bleach and an old broom kept specially. Joy :)

[EllieFish]

I have read on here that spraying maggots with bleach spray works. In actual fact it doesn't. Bleach has not affect on maggots. I found my wheelie bin was infested by maggots this week. I sprayed them with Raid fly spray. It didn't kill them all but it kept them at bay. I had my bin emptied this morning and not many were left. I have cleaned it out with hot water and bleach to get rid of any germs. Hoping hey don't reappear before the next FORTNIGHTLY collection. Why oh why do we have to have fortnightly collections?!!

[dasco]

Sincere thanks to all you Mumsnetters from a Dad who discovered maggots in his daughter's bin. All sorted!

[elic123]

just came outside. Bin lid crawling with maggots. Bleach all over the top and they cheeky things just crawled straight through! A plate of sweet wine (no beer in the house) seems to be attrating them.

I am lucky enough to live in a an area that was the first council in England to collect the bins once every THREE weeks!!!!

[cozietoesie]

I really don't see the point of pouring boiling water on existing rubbish. It might kill a few surface gunks but surely then cools off quickly so that anything deeper down the heap will end up in a pleasantly warm and soggy mass? That sounds like a perfect breeding ground to me.

I'd grit my teeth, deal with the flies and try to ensure that the bin is better sealed and cleaner in the future.

[hazeyjane]

It is grim. I tried over the counter bin cleaner, fly spray, bleach, boiling water scrubbing the bejesus out of the little fuckers.

Nothing worked

Strangely the thing that seems to have kept them away. A sprig of fresh mint in the bin!

[cozietoesie]

That's interesting.

Mint is known as one of the traditional fly repellers - they apparently really dislike it - so it's presumably keeping them away?

[JustAddMagic]

Your thread title could be the final verse of that song they used to sing on the Tweenies.
"Cows in the kitchen, moo moo moo."
"Maggots in the wheelie bin, help help help!"

[EmNetta]

It happened to me once, but not since I've been double-wrapping food waste etc. in two (cheap) bags. It occurred to me that if air could get in or out of a bag, flies would be attracted by the smell, so double bags well-tied should be air-tight and therefore safe.
Fortnightly collections are normal here, but even after the odd monthly collection, still no smell & no maggots.
Love the mint hint!