Neighbours have filled our bins

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We've just moved into a house that was previously vacant for about 3 months. This is our first week in and we've noticed that someone else keeps using our bins and putting things in the wrong bin! We've now got a general waste bin full of maggots and I don't know what to do. Do we have to sort through the bin and clear it out? Or do we contact the council and ask them to take this bin away/request a new bin? Lived in a flat prior to this so don't know where to begin.

OP, I think it depends on whether it's your own property or a Council one.

If it's your property then you'll need to find out who's using your bin and ask them to stop doing it. Then you'll need to just roll up your sleeves and clean it out.

If it's a Council property then you need to speak to the Council who will involve the Environmental Health Dept as the bin sounds like a health risk.

Its a dirty bin. Its not too difficult to clean out yourself with some cleaning fluid and a hose/kettle

Once clean put some stickers on to identify it as yours and keep an eye out for CF using it

Once they are clean, pull them inside somewhere if possible. Do you have a side access?
Sticker them too so it's clear they are yours.
If you can't take them inside, put them back to front and try making them as inaccessible as possible.
If you see who it is, just tell them straight off to not put stuff in your bins.

Ring doorbell.. find out whos doing it and then ask them to stop and to come clean the bin that they've filled with their stuff

Paint your number on the bin/ stickers. Buy a bin lock. These open automatically when the bin lorries flip them you just need the key to fill them up.

They've gotten used to using the bin whilst property has been empty and now believe themselves to be entitled.

You shouldn't have to, but if you are unable to find who has caused such a mess and unable to clean them yourself (I'm mid terrace and wasn't about to drag dirty bins to taps through the house!) there are companies who clean wheelie bins.
I'm in Manchester and just had 3 cleaned for £21, they come after bin collection so when they're empty and do one offs or regular!
Tbh I was happy to pay as mine too were full of maggots when I moved in and would have been v squeamish to do it myself 🤢

I'd contact a bin cleaner in your area. They'll schedule to clean it after bin collection day. Buy a bin lockbthat only you and the bin men can open it.

Order stickers to go on your bins. Mine came from amazon, with my number and address on.

Wow @HouseIsOnFire there really is a service for every job! Cleaning bins is tricky if you don't have a water source and I was just contemplating mine. I'll check out whether there's something similar near me.
Now I just need someone to crawl on my roof to clean my skylights...

I once had maggots in a rental I was cleaning. I left the lid open for a couple of hours, a lot of the maggots crawled out and the birds had a field day.

You can pay to have your wheelie bins cleaned, that might be better for you. Then label them and if they're used again by someone else, put letters through your immediate neighbours doors saying you've moved in, please don't use our bin

If you find someone for skylights please let me know!!

Thank you everyone for your input. To answer a few questions:

We're in a privately owned mid-terrace property so there's no way of taking the bins (recycling, general waste, garden waste and food caddy) inside after the bin men have been. And, collections for different types of waste are done on different weeks so even if we did have an option to do that, I wouldn't have the time or patience to coordinate a game of musical bins! I don't mind rolling my sleeves up, donning gloves and a face mask and cleaning the bins, the issue is that the bin men have refused to collect our waste because there's all sorts in there that doesn't fit the bin category and I'm having palpitations at the thought of going through each bin and seeing other peoples rubbish 🤢🤢. God knows what's in there and I don't want to do it :(

we're soon to have a security system installed, I'm hoping that deters the culprit/s. We're also almost fully unpacked so will be using our living room at the front of the house so I'm hoping knowing someone is behind a curtain will deter whoever it is that using our bins as their own.

I hadn't even thought of a professional bin cleaner... will get onto googling a local one straight away... but how do I brave it to empty the bins and sort the rubbish into each bin first? I don't want to do it- will genuinely be sick.

The bins are labelled. I like the idea of a letter to the immediate neighbours a lot.

To be honest, I’d wrap the bins up with heavy duty tape and cling film and dump the lot at the tip. Spray the bins afterwards for the bins afterwards, more tape and towels for the car. When home, disinfectant and boiling water.

i would then have a bin cleaner come regularly- we do this, general waste and food bin.

Ooooh, can we do this? Dump the bin at the tip? Rubbish inside? I might get my husband to hire a van and sort it.

You can call a rubbish disposal company and get the contents picked up from your house. Cheaper and easier than hiring a van. AnyJunk is a big national company that does it.

Then clean the bin thoroughly (although you can also call professionals to do this). Get some stickers from Amazon or get paint and clearly mark the bin on all sides and on the lid with you address. Consider a temporary lock, even if it's just a clamp to ensure that it isn't used by randoms. Put a laminated note on the lid to say that you need the bin and for others to please not use it as the house is no longer vacant.

Put it out on regular bin day for emptying.
Then hose it and clean it with disinfectant - or pay a bin cleaning service to do it.
Then buy a wheelie bin lock - problem solved.

DONT just take it to the tip - total waste and completely unnecessary.

In our tip, they would not allow you to dump the bin at the tip with the rubbish inside, and furthermore going in a van is restricted due to potential business use.

Please don't write a letter to your neighbours about the bins, you'll start off on immediately the wrong foot. OK the neighbours have used your bins, they were use to the house being empty. It's no longer empty, likely is they'll stop using your bins. Put extra numbers on them, make it clear things have changed, bag up the rubbish in black bags and wash the bins.

Yes, please no passive aggressive letters to new neighbours! Pay for a one off waste disposal service to come round, empty all your bins and start from scratch. Then chuck loads of bleach/hot water/vinegar/lemon essential oil in the bins whilst you wait for next bin day. Definitely pay for a wheelie bin cleaning service, my local guy does 12 cleans of my recycling and general waste for £20 or something. They always smell nice 😁

Are your bins in your front garden - how are the cheeky bin fuckers getting access? Could you order a motion detector light at the front of your property? It's a cheap deterrent and shows them people have now moved in.

Alternatively you could don the rubber gloves, face mask, plastic apron and empty it all into black bags and put out at the next general waste day (if they take black bins) or take to the skip. It would be kinda hard to do this alone though, one of you would have to tip the bin, the other catch the contents etc

OP's already said that the bin men won't take it.

I had this issue years ago as our bins live in a communal bin store but we all have our own bin. In the end I bought a bin lock off Amazon!

Just ask on your local Facebook page. There really is a man for every job!