I have just been to put a bag of rubbish into our huge black bin (there are 6 of us so we have a big bin) to find about 100 maggots crawling the sides, and on the lid of the bin.
Surely not only is this revolting, but it cannot be remotely hygienic?
Doretta
Sorry to hear you, too, are experiencing these problems, Carrie. This is now commonplace in areas operating fortnightly collections but we are assured there is no health risk. That may be technically true for the larvae but it certainly isn't if they reach maturity.
Even those who double wrap their waste complain of maggot infestations. As the temperatures increase the life cycle of the housefly is accelerated. In our climate the complete life cycle would normally take 7-10 days from egg to adult. We are, however, experiencing higher temperatures which can reduce this.
Collections every 7 days were first introduced in 1875 to interrupt the life cycle of the house fly. By removing waste from households to landfill sites any larvae present would mature well away from households. Now flies and maggots are becoming an increasing nuisance.
