10:42am Wednesday 1st October 2008
WHEN I saw the story of the “Maggot Invasion” from a wheelie bin I thought I was experiencing something like a very bad 50s B-movie or an April Fool’s joke.
Then all of those letters appeared in Globe Mailbox from so many other people with a “maggot problem.”
Despite having three children, we could last up to six weeks before putting out our green bin when it was just weekly mixed waste collections. I have always recycled everything I can and I don’t cause unnecessary waste.
What is more, we never, I repeat never, had any kind of pest problem. No maggots, rats or other imaginary “beasties”, even in the summer.
That’s because I don’t create environmental conditions in my bin that would attract such creatures.
To my knowledge maggots can’t crawl up walls and into upstairs windows, so for anyone who doesn’t grossly exaggerate but sometimes experiences maggots in their bin I have the following advice:
1) Don’t put food in the bin. Why is anyone preparing more food than they can eat? Stop automatically throwing away any food that has passed its date without doing a simple ‘sniff’ test first; the date is a guide, not a rule.
2) Keep the bin shaded to lower the temperature inside.
3) Don’t ever leave the lid up, for example don’t overload the bin; recycle like you should be doing already.
4) Keep rubbish dry and never add moisture to the bin, and that includes disinfectant and pesticides.
D V Hall, Irby.
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