Bins emptied every 2 weeks

C_Ronaldo

Since its on watchdog i thought id start a thread, how do people get maggots in theyre bins when we dont have any at all,

Meanymoo

We have a fortnightly bin collection and no maggots. Bit smelly when you open the bin after 2 weeks, but definitely no maggots.

savemoney

I suppose they dont bag things properly and leave lids not on properly

I noticed since we have gone fortnightly that the green (none recyclable) bin is much more heavier now and so are the bags. The blue recyclable bin is about half full every 2 weeks, we dont have many papers, mags etc and what we do have we burn in the fire.

Meanymoo

I've always assumed it's people who throw a lot of food waste away who get maggot problems. Flies like to lay eggs in dead things, don't they? So I suppose bins with raw meat in would attract them. But I agree that you'd have not to leave the lid on properly. So maybe it's people whose bins are overflowing after two weeks AND have raw meat.

milkydrink

I would have thought that now when its cold its OK.

But a whole different matter in summer, I would have though maggots unavoidable in high summer.

geordie_joe

C_Ronaldo wrote: »

Since its on watchdog i thought id start a thread, how do people get maggots in theyre bins when we dont have any at all,

How do you know, have you searched your bin after the rubbish has been in it for a week?

Sometimes the bag in your swing/pedal bin can split, either because of over filling or something sharp in the bag. A crispy chip with a sharp point can split a bag if it is in the right place, especially if you "throw" the bag into the bin, or drop it into an empty bin.

Then all it takes is a fly to get into the bin, this can happen when you open it to put something in, or because the bin lid does not close tightly enough to keep the flies out.

A fly trapped in the bin will find it's way into the bag and do nothing but eat and produce maggots.

If this happens the first time you put something in the bin after it has been emptied then the flies have a fortnight to breed. They can produce a lot of offspring in that time!

They can also get into your house, then into the swing/pedal bin and get trapped in the bag when you empty the bin. This is fine if you seal the bag as they are trapped, but if it gets split when you dump it in the wheelie bin......

geordie_joe

Meanymoo wrote: »

I've always assumed it's people who throw a lot of food waste away who get maggot problems. Flies like to lay eggs in dead things, don't they? So I suppose bins with raw meat in would attract them. But I agree that you'd have not to leave the lid on properly. So maybe it's people whose bins are overflowing after two weeks AND have raw meat.

Yes, they prefer dead things, but as any mother will tell you "When the little one decides to make an appearance there nothing you can do to stop it." It won't wait until the mother fly is passing a piece of meat.

If a fly is trapped in your bin and old chip will do in place of meat. And that chip will feed the maggots when they appear.

And of course, we all know that the stuff you find in nappies attracts flies like nothing else.

glenstan

I always squirt a little bleach around the new bin liner when i put it into wheelie bin, so far, as i am aware we have not had maggots, but we have not had a full bin either. We have also moved bin from west facing, to north east facing , so the lack of direct sunlight may have something to do with it.

Poppycat

I spray Jeyes fluid and then hose down with water my bin every two weeks I am concerned about the Summer months

I have seen houses with multi occupation have over flowing bins, if nothing is done about it I suspect there could be a health hazard

Meanymoo

geordie_joe wrote: »

Yes, they prefer dead things, but as any mother will tell you "When the little one decides to make an appearance there nothing you can do to stop it." It won't wait until the mother fly is passing a piece of meat.

If a fly is trapped in your bin and old chip will do in place of meat. And that chip will feed the maggots when they appear.

And of course, we all know that the stuff you find in nappies attracts flies like nothing else.

Fair point! I suppose we've just been lucky so far. We did have flies buzzing around the bins over the (supposed) summer, but no maggots in ours. Given the choice, I suspect a fly would prefer our neighbours' bin - they throw away all manner of food (we went to their barbecue over the summer and before I could stop them they chucked all the leftovers into the bin - looked at me like I was insane when I asked why they didn't keep the food for another day). The vast majority of what we put in the bin is cat litter (no solids though - they get flushed) as we have nowhere to compost that. It must smell attractive to flies, but we've fortunately had no problems so far.

C_Ronaldo

geordie_joe wrote: »

How do you know, have you searched your bin after the rubbish has been in it for a week?

Sometimes the bag in your swing/pedal bin can split, either because of over filling or something sharp in the bag. A crispy chip with a sharp point can split a bag if it is in the right place, especially if you "throw" the bag into the bin, or drop it into an empty bin.

Then all it takes is a fly to get into the bin, this can happen when you open it to put something in, or because the bin lid does not close tightly enough to keep the flies out.

A fly trapped in the bin will find it's way into the bag and do nothing but eat and produce maggots.

If this happens the first time you put something in the bin after it has been emptied then the flies have a fortnight to breed. They can produce a lot of offspring in that time!

They can also get into your house, then into the swing/pedal bin and get trapped in the bag when you empty the bin. This is fine if you seal the bag as they are trapped, but if it gets split when you dump it in the wheelie bin......

yes i have looked inside the bin and theres no maggotts, ive not had a bag split on me but then i do empty the bins at a point when they need emptying and not when they are full to the brim, we have weekly collections at the minute, we do throw food waste away but not flies/maggotts yet