Worms on the Food-waste Bin

allthedoyles

Went out the back tonight and found a lot of white worms crawling all over the food-waste bin.

Can anyone enlighten me as to where they came from or what they are .

Never seen the like of them before .

Kovu

Maggots, must have been lad by flies in the warm weather recently and just escaping now.

*bleugh*

redser7

Yip, maggots.

brian67

Blow fly

fiacha

My local robins would have a field day on that bin !. They sit and watch for maggots poking their heads out the drainage holes on our brown bin.

I'd give that bin a good wash and then bag the waste as it goes in. Won't stop the flies laying eggs, but it might reduce the numbers.

allthedoyles

I must admit the bin needs a good wash all right .

Never seen the like of it before , and when I opened the bin , these guys got very animated , and started moving all over the place quickly .

rje66

Do you put raw meat in the bin?. This could be the issue.
But agree birds would love them and it needs a good scrub!!!!

rje66

Do you put raw meat in the bin?. This could be the issue.
But agree birds would love them and it needs a good scrub!!!!

rje66

Do you put raw meat in the bin?. This could be the issue.
But agree birds would love them and it needs a good scrub!!!!

brian67

if you know anyone that fishes they would use the maggots

pawrick

Yep dont put any meat in it during the warm weather and give it a good clean to rid any scent drawing the flies to lay eggs.

allthedoyles

rje66 wrote: »

Do you put raw meat in the bin?. This could be the issue.
But agree birds would love them and it needs a good scrub!!!!

We do put raw meat in the bin .........We are with Wastepal , and it used to be a compost bin , but they sent out letters explaining that is is now a food-waste bin , and we are not allowed put garden leaves etc in it .

So it is mainly left-over food only we put in in now .

For some reason these worms / maggots seem to generate at night only , and the damp weather seems to make them multiply .

Kovu

Yes, damp warm weather is incubation perfection for fly larvae.

To get rid of it perfectly; No raw meats/leftovers etc in the bin.
&
Use a (paper) bag each time from the house for such veg waste.

baaba maal

How frequently is the bin emptied by the waste company?

miss no stars

try getting those compostable bags. We put our food in them and then transfer to big food bin. Means the bin stays pretty much clean.

magicbastarder

allthedoyles wrote: »

We do put raw meat in the bin .........We are with Wastepal , and it used to be a compost bin , but they sent out letters explaining that is is now a food-waste bin , and we are not allowed put garden leaves etc in it .

it's a bloody big bin for leftover food waste!

allthedoyles

baaba maal wrote: »

How frequently is the bin emptied by the waste company?

The bin is only emptied when its full . - we could leave it out for collection every 2nd week , but too much hassle , so we fill it up first and this could take 6 weeks .

magicbastarder

6 weeks to fill that bin with food waste? is it a 240l bin?

baaba maal

From looking at their website, you are not being charged for each lift- just a flat rate? If so, just leave the bin out at a frequency of fortnightly in the summer (which is probably their collection frequency) and monthly in the winter - regardless of how full it is. This will reduce the the maggot problem (and give the bin a wash every six weeks or six weeks or so).

allthedoyles

magicbastarder wrote: »

6 weeks to fill that bin with food waste? is it a 240l bin?

Its 80 litre food waste bin

allthedoyles

They're back


Just before water charges came in , I decided to clean out the food waste bin , and now next day the worms are back .

Have never seen so many worms

miss no stars

Have you been leaving the bin out at every opportunity and using those compostable bags to put stuff in rather than transferring the food directly the big bin?

allthedoyles

miss no stars wrote: »

Have you been leaving the bin out at every opportunity and using those compostable bags to put stuff in rather than transferring the food directly the big bin?

The food waste is dumped directly into this bin - and fortnightly into truck bin .

Its not necessary to use compostable bags

kylith

Not necessary, but a good way to reduce the numbers of maggots. You can also get compostable bags large enough to line the bin itself. I also use them in my kitchen caddy.

Capt_cack

Wrapping the food waste in newspaper might keep the flies off it long enough to prevent this.

miss no stars

allthedoyles wrote: »

The food waste is dumped directly into this bin - and fortnightly into truck bin .

Its not necessary to use compostable bags

Right, so you've had a problem with maggots twice, I've had a problem with maggots no times. You reckon the bags aren't necessary, I use them. Go figure.

tricky D

Leave the bin out every 2 weeks no matter how full.

Wrap the meat waste in 2 layers of newspapers.

If you are allowed, put some of the mowed grass cuttings and/or the fine sandy type stuff from the dust pan when sweeping around the house exterior - they hate that stuff.

tampopo

allthedoyles wrote: »

The food waste is dumped directly into this bin - and fortnightly into truck bin .

Its not necessary to use compostable bags

and that is how you are getting the maggots....sheesh.....

allthedoyles

Once again and first night in a year , the back yard is full of these white worms .

The mat at back door , the coal bunker and even simply on the concrete out back . They all over the place .

It must be the damp weather / rain etc that brings out these white worms .

guil

They're not worms they are maggots and won't stop unless you change how you use the bin. It's perfectly acceptable to wrap food in newspaper before putting it in the bin so unless you make changes they are not going anywhere.

TherapyBoy

And if it doesn't cost you anything extra put your compost bin out for collection everytime, don't wait for it to fill up.

smacl

If you're a gardener, maybe pick up a worm farm and use that to convert your food scraps into top notch compost and plant food.

Calahonda52

You need to stop the flies that lay the eggs on the food from getting at the food, simple as.

Wrapping the food as advised previously and keep the flies out of the bin.

They may look nice and cuddly but if they develop into flies the you will have a bigger problem: they will get into the house and your neighbours houses

Jellybaby1

I get the same problem on occasions. Our food waste (brown) bin is collected by Greyhound every two weeks so no opportunity to get rid of it any earlier. There might be only 4-6 small green compostable bagfulls in it. I don't willingly put raw meat in but when I trim meat before cooking then of course that waste goes in the waste bin and so its a breeding ground for the flies. It only happens when the weather is very warm and so far I have no problems. The only thing I do to combat it is (1) use the eco-friendly compostable bags, and (b) I wash all my bins out regularly and (c) if I see any flies around the bin or in it I give them a quick spray of fly killer. I'd rather have dead flies in the bin than live maggots. Maybe I shouldn't do this but that's how I keep the maggot population down to a minimum. I would never, absolutely never, throw food waste into a bin without bagging it with compostable bags.