Keeping Your Food Waste Bins Clean

Here's some advice for keeping your food waste bins clean and free from smells.

• Do not leave food waste exposed in the home before putting it into the bin as this will give flies an opportunity to lay eggs. It only takes 24 hours after eggs are laid for maggots to emerge.
  
  
• Wrap up or double bag food waste before throwing it away particularly items such as meat and fish.
  
  
• Wrap messy or smelly food waste and place straight in to your outside food bin.
  
  
• Line your kitchen caddy with compostable liners, newspaper or kitchen roll to help keep both bins clean. Look out for our signs in local supermarket car parks that indicate if compostable liners are sold in store.
  
  
• Tie up the corners of the compostable liner before disposing of it to prevent flies from getting inside.
  
  
• Squeeze the air out of the compostable liner before you tie it up and place it in the outside food bin. This will slow down the decomposition process and reduce smells due to the lack of oxygen.
  
  
• Empty your kitchen caddy a little more regularly in the summer months when the heat causes food to decompose faster.
  
  
• Give your bins a regular rinse out.
  
  
• Where possible, store your food bin out of direct sunlight.
  

If you have followed the advice above and are having problems, please contact the |Environmental Care team.