Maggots and Trash Can Infestations

How to Effectively Eliminate Maggots from Your Trash Bins and Dumpsters

As much as we may hate doing the task of taking out our dirty trash cans, it’s simply a normal part of our everyday lives that must be done. However, that doesn’t mean the task should be something we literally dread. Yet, many of us do dread it and with good reason. This is especially true during the hot summer months when all of the nasty elements inside our bins will fester in the heat. Hot trash cans filled with trash is precisely when and where maggots thrive the most.

When you find yourself faced with trash cans polluted with maggot infestations, it’s important to do something about it before the situation gets even worse. Yes — it can actually get worse!

Obviously, a professional curbside trash bin cleaning service will greatly reduce the risk of dealing with nasty maggots and other vermin. But what is it that allows maggots to thrive in trash cans and recycling bins? Read on to find out.

Why Do Maggots Infest Your Trash Cans and Recycling Bins?

Like all living creatures, flies will seek out locations that offer warmth, protection, and food when they’re searching for a place to lay their eggs. Trash bins are ideal because they offer all of these things. This makes them a prime location for insects to breed. This situation worsens when you add some rotting organic matter into the mix since this is a preferred food source for maggots. Obviously, trash cans are full of all sorts of organic waste.

Warmer weather will force the trash can interior to become hot and humid. And if you already live in a warm climate, this environment is only more extreme during the summer months. The higher temperatures help to enhance the odor of food remnants inside the cans, making it even more appealing for files to enter and lay their eggs. Before you know it, your property is polluted with maggots. These maggots will hatch and grow into adult flies in a very short time and then continue breeding. Just a few tiny maggots will eventually turn into a full-blown trash can infestation. 

How to Prevent Trash Can Infestations of Maggots

The cleaner you keep your trash cans and recycling bins, the less likely it is you’ll ever have to deal with maggots at all. Hiring a curbside trash can cleaning service for more frequent cleaning of your bins is always your best and simplest option for dealing with this situation. Regular curbside cleaning of your trash cans, recycling bins, and dumpsters will not only prevent infestations, but your pails and dumpsters will look and smell their best at all times.

Manual Cleaning of Your Trash Cans After a Maggot Infestation

Note that due to the risk of burning yourself, this method of maggot elimination is not recommended.  If, however, you are brave enough to take on this incredibly unpleasant and dangerous task all by yourself, here’s what you can expect…

Obviously, you’ll need to start by removing any trash from the cans. In order to avoid this step, you might want to wait until your next scheduled trash collection date. However, that might be a full week away. During that time, the maggots will only get much worse and the conditions inside your garbage pails and dumpsters will become more uninviting. If this is the case and your local trash pickup is days out, you may need to remove all of the trash yourself and deliver it to your local facility.

Once all of the main trash and bags have been removed from your bins, you’ll now need to remove any loose items or debris from the inside the trash cans or dumpsters. Cans that haven’t been cleaned in a while tend to have all sorts of wrappers, gunk and other items stuck to the bottom and walls of the pails. These items will require some effort, especially if they’ve remained inside of the bins for some time.

Now to Kill the Maggots Living Inside of Your Trash Cans or Dumpsters

Once all of this has been done the garbage pails are prepared and ready. It’s now time to take on the maggots living inside of your cans or dumpsters. This is where you’ll need to use boiling water to directly kill the maggots. Heated water is an extremely effective way of killing trash can insects like maggots. This is why the trash can cleaning process done by professionals uses water heated to around 200 degrees farenheit. The heated water kills all insects it touches on contact. However, by doing this task on your own there’s a high chance of burning yourself while trying to pour scalding hot water into and onto your bins.

Disinfecting Your Trash and Recycling Receptacles

After the insects have been dealt with, you’ll need to clean and disinfect the inside of the trash cans. Using a brush or sponge mop along with hot soapy water, you’ll need to scrub the interior and exterior of all of the bins. Be thorough and try to get every nook and cranny to ensure that you remove any leftover residue that might still be inside of the bins.

Remember that most town ordinances forbid pouring the leftover water and chemicals into the street, so you’ll need a way to properly dispose of this water once your done.
After all your hard work, you’ll want to thoroughly dry the trash cans using towels. If it’s warm enough and dry enough out you can try to air dry the bins. Make sure the trash cans are completely dry before putting any bags or trash back inside of them as doing this while they’re still damp or wet will only promote the process to start again.

Professional Curbside Trash Can Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Deodorizing Services

When you consider the time, effort, money, and risks of cleaning maggots from your trash bins yourself, it’s well worth the small expense you’ll pay for a professional trash can cleaner to handle this task for you. Curbside trash bin cleaning services are convenient and effective. These businesses are equipped with professional grade equipment that will handle the task quickly and effectively with little to no risk to the operator. Additionally, your local trash can cleaning and disinfecting service uses eco friendly chemicals and will take away all of the dirty water with them to dispose it properly at an appropriate facility.

Once again, due to the risk of burning yourself, hiring a professional curbside trash bin cleaning provider is definitely the recommended method for cleaning all of your waste receptacles.