Health and hygiene advice for wheeled bins

Maggots can only exist in your bin if flies have been allowed access to your waste, however there are many things you can do to help prevent attracting flies.

How do I avoid unpleasant smells in my grey bin and attracting flies?

• Double bag food waste such as meat and bones
• Rinse out food pots/containers
• If possible store the bin out of direct sunlight
• Keep the bin lid shut at all times
• Regularly clean and disinfect your bin
• Use a wheeled bin liner (grey bin only)
• Squeeze air out of bags used to contain food waste as the lack of air should slow down general decomposition and reduce smells and slow down the development of maggots.

I have maggots in my grey bin – what shall I do?

• Tip the contents of the bin into a plastic sack that can be sealed if not already in sacks.
• Pour in a bleach solution or very hot soapy water and dispose of the liquid down a foul sewer e.g. kitchen gully.
• Put the sealed plastic bags back in the bin ready for collection – if the bags are kept sealed the maggots will not be able to escape.
• Use a cleaning product with a fragrance as this will also help to keep flies away

Wheeled Bins - Cleaning Services

There are a number of companies that can offer a cleaning service for wheeled bins in this area. Here is a list of some useful contacts:

Brite R Bins: telephone 01278 459054 or e-mail briterbins@fsmail.net.

Wheelie Bin Cleaning Service: telephone 07805 214259 or e-mail wbcsbridgwater@fsmail.net.

Alternatively, P & P Technology can provide SmellsAway pads, which are carbon fibre pads that absorb bad smells for up to 4 weeks, and can then be re-activated by sunlight. Please visit www.smellsaway.co.uk for more information.

You can find more companies by looking in a telephone directory or using an internet search engine.