Maggots in wheelie bin - aaaargh

[AngelDog]

I am fed up of maggot infestations. We've had 3 in the last month or so.

The green bin (food & garden waste) got them in, so I scrubbed it out well but they came back again a couple of weeks later. Now we've got them in the black bin, even though I'm pretty certain I've not put any meat waste in it since it was last emptied. (The bottom of my fridge is full of meat packaging which I don't have space for in the freezer and I daredn't put in the bin as it won't be emptied for another week.)

What can I do to stop them coming back?

each time the bin is emptied, hose or rinse it out, turn upside down to drain, leave the lid open to dry. The liquid that gathers inside is very bad for stinks and flies. Potato peelings are especially bad for rotting to liquid so wrap them in newspaper to absorb it.

It must help to tie up the bags from your kitchen bin before you put them out, sometimes I double wrap. For some reason charities keep leaving me plastic sacks that can be knotted and put in the bin.

You can rinse the blood off meat wrappers before binning them.

If you have a food waste bin it is bound to get maggoty. Sometimes putting a layer of grass-cuttings on top will smother them a bit.

I had this problem recently. I got some stuff from the supermarket, Bin Buddy I think its called. You sprinkle it in the bin and it gets rid of flies and maggots and makes the bin smell better. You are just supposed to sprinkle it on top if the waste each time you put something in but I used it quite liberally initially to get rid of the infestation.

I just wash the bins with some bleach and squirt a bit at the bottom of the bin. No smell and no maggots.

Thanks, everyone. Green bin is cleaned again, and I'm just waiting for the black one to be emptied on Friday before I can clean that out too.