How To Get Rid of Maggots In Your Garbage Can (2024)

Got maggots in your trash can?
Here’s what you’ll discover on this page…
Why you have maggots in your trash can
How to get rid of maggots in your trash can
Two secret ways to stop them coming back

The problem: Why you have a maggot infestation in your trash can

While you may see them at almost any time of year, you’re most likely to run into maggots during the hot summer months, when high temperatures and humidity create the perfect conditions. Food waste and other garbage rots more quickly in the heat, and the resulting smells can begin a maggot bonanza:

“Maggots are fly larvae,” explains Ron Harrison, PhD in Entomology and Director of Technical Services at Orkin, one of the nation’s largest residential and commercial pest-control services. “Rotting food or waste material produces methane gas, which flies are attracted to. They then lay their eggs on the rotting waste, providing an instant food source once the larvae hatch.”

The good news is that you’re not alone: nobody likes to admit it, but maggot infestations are a common garbage problem, especially in outdoor trash cans. In fact, they’re so common that there are plenty of proven measures for eliminating them (and, best of all, to keep them from coming back.)

How to kill maggots in your trash can… forever

Step 1: Wait to kill maggots until trash collection day

It’s easier to kill maggots when there’s no trash in the garbage bin .

Plus, if you don’t clean your can after you’ve killed the maggots, adult flies will lay eggs again and re-populate it within just a few days.

So if you only want to tackle this once, wait for your trash to be emptied before you get your hands dirty.

Step 2: Kill maggots by tipping boiling water all over them

You could spend a bunch of money buying ‘diatomaceous earth’ to sprinkle in your trash can. Or you could get a ‘not completely’ safe pesticide called permethrin.

But there’s an easier solution than insecticides, and you don’t even have to go to the store for it. It’s one of those natural remedies that’s good for about a million different things around the house.

Boiling water.

It’s free, it’s quick, it’s effective, and it kills maggots in an instant. No bug sprays or other insecticides required.

Here’s what you need to do.

Once your trash can is empty of all trash, boil water in a kettle and tip the hot water over the maggots.

After a good dousing with boiling water all those maggots will be good and dead.

But the war ain’t over yet. While boiling water is so cheap and easy that you could do it again if you had to, you’d rather have the maggot infestation gone for good, right? In that case, keep on reading to find out how to prevent future infestations.

Step 3: Clean your trash can

The lifecycle of house flies is extremely short, which means it’s extremely important to take preventative measures so that they don’t lay eggs again. Without this step, there’s a good chance the maggot infestation will return within a week when new eggs hatch.

If your trash bin is dirty inside, you should clean it out thoroughly. Get a brush and some hot water with dish soap , then scrub your garbage bin vigorously. Or call your local trash-can cleaning service, if you have one.

Either way, when you’re done, your trash bin should be totally empty of food scraps and other stuck-on debris. You don’t want any decomposing food waste left to attract flies.

Step 4: Get some of these jumbo cart-liner garbage bags – not available from the store

“These huge liners will keep your roll-away cart spotless and maggot-free”

Here’s a little-known way to make sure every last maggot from here-on-in gets taken away with the rest of your trash on collection day.

Simply line your newly cleaned trash bin with some of these jumbo size trash bags. Your whole week’s trash goes inside one of these giant garbage bags, and the whole lot – maggots and all – vanish on collection day.

They are available for 64 Gallon and 95 Gallon roll-away carts, and they work like magic. Make sure that you choose garbage bags made from tough, thick plastic, like Plasticplace’s jumbo 55-gallon trash bags and 95-gallon trash bags for roll-away trash bins.

Start using these bags and the only thing you’ll have left on collection day is a sparkling clean garbage can – and a strangely satisfied feeling. No food scraps, pet food or other decomposing garbage left in your trash can means there’s no food source for adult flies to lay eggs on.

But there’s one more thing you can do to make sure your garbage bin is a true maggot-proof fortress.

Step 5: Secure the cart-liner with a super-sized elastic band

“These elastic bands will keep your can-liner as secure as Fort Knox. No maggots inside your cart ever again.”

Yes, trash bin bags work wonders, but if the liner slips down inside, food waste may still leak out leading to more odor and maggots.

That’s why we recommend you keep the bag in place with these super-sized trash can rubber bands. All you need to do is wrap one around the rim of your garbage can after putting a new garbage bag in. Ta-da!

They’re cheap, and they keep the trash bag perfectly in position, ensuring your garbage can never becomes a smelly maggot trap again.

And there you have it—how to solve your trash bin’s maggot problem for good! Plus, there’s a bonus: Keeping your garbage can clean will keep out other uninvited guests like fruit flies. Prevention, after all, is the most effective kind of pest control.

No more smells.
No more flies.
No more maggot infestations in your can.
No more scrubbing.

Ever.