As temperatures rise, your outdoor bin can become a hotspot for flies, but one cupboard staple can stop this from happening.
Flies are drawn to the smell of decomposing organic matter, especially food waste. An unclean bin and any uncovered food are attractive places for a fly to lay its eggs, often several hundred eggs at a time. Within 24 to 48 hours, these eggs hatch into maggots which feed on the waste, particularly thriving in warm, moist environments.
Without intervention, these maggots will grow and emerge as adult flies within a week, repeating the cycle and turning your bin into a full-blown infestation site. To avoid this, professional cleaner Claire has taken to her Instagram page @sisterpledgecleans to share her go-to hack to “keep flies away”.
Claiming that “this hack will work in any bin”, Claire shared that salt is the key to getting rid of these pests.
Similar to snails, flies and maggots don’t like salt at all. To kill them with salt, simply cover the maggots and the entire infested area with a generous layer of table salt and then let it sit in direct sunlight for an hour or so.
The combination of heat and salt will dehydrate and kill the flies and maggots. Afterwards, rinse off the area and dispose of the maggots in a sealed plastic bag.
Claire instructed: “Just sprinkle a generous amount of table salt at the bottom of the bin.
“Flies hate salt, and it soaks up any bin juice, preventing them from laying eggs or producing maggots. Say goodbye to pesky flies!”
The cleaner is shown using it in her food waste bin in the video, but you could use it in your larger wheelie bins too.
Once the flies and maggots are dead, thoroughly clean the bin before you place more rubbish inside and cover the bottom with salt.
Then, wash and replace the salt layer regularly, more frequently during summer months.
As reducing the smells helps to avoid flies invading your bins, baking soda can also be used. It’s an odour-absorbing powder that also removes moisture, like salt.
