Binman shares best way to stop maggots in your food waste bin

A binman has explained his top tips to prevent maggots from infesting food waste bins, as councils across the UK roll out the new collections.

The No1 Binman, a self-described ‘binfluencer’, has been inundated with queries from followers about how to keep pests out of the new bins, particularly during the recent warm weather.

His advice comes as the rollout gathers pace following a £295m Government funding announcement in 2024 for local councils to introduce weekly food waste collections.

The scheme aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by diverting food waste from landfill to power plants that generate more sustainable energy.

However, the introduction of the bins has attracted criticism from householders over their odour and the creatures they attract, including flies, maggots, foxes and rats.

How to stop maggots taking over your food waste bin?

As new food waste bins began being collected over the past month, the binfluencer started receiving numerous enquiries about how to keep pests out of bins, particularly in the warm weather the UK has been experiencing.

He said: “If you’ve got some smelly food, it proper pongs, double bag it. Then once you have double bagged it, make sure you squeeze the air out of it and then make sure it’s tight and put it in your bin.

“If you can, keep it [the bin] out of direct sunlight. When it starts cooking and heating up, it attracts more flies because of the smell of it, try and put in the shade – under a chair or anywhere you can.

“Thirdly, keep the lid closed. If the flies can’t get in there, they can’t lay the maggots to then be in the bin. If you can, put the food waste in the freezer and then on bin day, put it in your bin.

“There is one more, if you want to get rid of some of them, you can put salt in your bin – It’ll also stop the maggots.”

Numerous people responded to the binman’s video, sharing their own experiences with food waste bins, with one viewer declaring they would ‘never’ use theirs again.

One viewer wrote: “In the last heatwave it got to 31.5c in our house and never gave the bin a thought until at 9.25 at night they were crawling all over the place. Never again!”

Another remarked: “The lid on my food waste bin broke just before the mega heatwave. My god, I’ve never smelt anything so disgusting in my whole life. Maggots EVERYWHERE…. They emptied it and I promptly ordered a new bin. Never experienced that before any life and don’t want to ever again.”

A third noted: “In heat we always double bag, and once been collected we always clean them with bleach.”

A fourth user chimed in: “I put paper towel at the bottom and then put salt in it always works.”