Yuck: Removing (and Preventing!) Maggots from your Wheelie Bins
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Every Aussie household has the classic green, red, and yellow wheelie bins sequestered somewhere in the yard. Depending on where you live, you probably have one bin for recycling, another bin for general waste, and maybe even a third one for green / food waste.
While rubbish is collected and removed from these bins weekly, most homeowners actually forget to clean their wheelie bins on a regular schedule.
We get it, washing a wheelie bin can be a smelly and nasty job, but doing it regularly and properly is still important.
Neglecting to clean your outdoor bins can mean dealing with flies and maggots further down the line, just like what happened to this mum from Queensland.
Sharing on the popular Facebook group Cleaning & Organising Inspiration Australia, one mum from Queensland revealed that she was already at her wit's end trying to deal with a serious maggot infestation in her wheelie bin.
She posted a photo (not actually hers) of the maggot situation, showing hundreds of the little insects crawling around inside of a wheelie bin.
The mum said she had already tried spraying her bin with fly spray to ward off the maggots but to no avail. So she asked fellow homeowners: "I want to know how I can stop these horrible creatures taking over my wheels bin!"
Hundreds of users on Facebook quickly offered their advice (and sympathy) to the mum, telling her that she's not alone in her predicament.
"This is what our bin looks like," one user admitted, with a second one adding: "I live in Darwin and my bin gets like this no matter how much I clean it."
A Queensland mum asked for help on social media regarding the maggots infesting her bin. Credit: Facebook.
According to the folks at Wheelie Bin Solutions, to get rid of maggots in your bin, here are the steps to follow:
- First, put on a face mask, protective gloves and goggles before you work on your bin.
- Then empty your bin of rubbish.
- After that, pour boiling water (be careful, members!) to instantly kill the maggots.
- Once the maggots are killed, disinfect your bin using bleach to destroy any remaining eggs. (Remember to check beforehand that the bleach is safe to use on your specific bin type, as you don’t want to cause more problems by fixing this one!)
- Once your bin is properly disinfected, give it a thorough wash or contact professionals to wash your bins for you.
Credit: Heads of Estate & Renovation.
To prevent future maggot infestations in your waste bin, here are some tips:
- Always keep your bin lid closed
- Make sure to get your bin emptied regularly (especially if it's a food waste bin)
- Make sure you always wrap meat and fish up in something appropriate before placing it in the food waste bin
- You could try using fly traps or spray in and around your bin to prevent flies from laying eggs