Inner West Council tells households to make fly traps, rub salt on bins to deter bugs from organic food waste bins
Thousands of Sydney households are being encouraged to make vinegar fly traps and spread salt on their bins following a contentious rollout of organic food waste bins in the city’s inner west.
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Thousands of Sydney households are being urged to make vinegar fly traps and spread salt on their bins following a contentious rollout of organic food waste bins in the city’s inner west.
Inner West Council is embarking on a communication campaign aimed at deterring flies and other “bugs” from gathering in and around new food waste bins over the coming summer period.
As part of the campaign, residents are being encouraged to sprinkle salt around the rims of wheelie bins, as well as setting up fruit fly traps made from a mix of apple cider vinegar and dish washing liquid
The council’s deputy mayor Mat Howard said the communications campaign would be an important way of helping residents deter unwanted guests during the hot weather.
“As the weather amps up, so will the smell and the bugs,” he said.
“This will be the summer of vinegar spray, sprinkled salt and additional bin collections as needed.”
The council’s organic food waste service launched last year and has so far collected more than 17,500 tonnes of waste.
The rollout, however, came with a rocky start as residents complained of bins not being collected and overflowing, attracting rats and other vermin.
Backlash from the community prompted the council to boost collection services from an initial fortnightly collection service to a weekly service.
Several other Sydney councils have similar organic food waste services in place while the state’s most populated council area, Blacktown, will begin trialling the service from next year.
All councils across NSW have been told they must provide the organic food service by 2030 as part of a NSW Government waste mandate.
Other tips that form part of the Inner West Council campaign include emptying kitchen benchtop bins on alternate days to minimise smells and pests.
The campaign will also show which Christmas foods can go into the organic bins.
The council says items that can be disposed of in the bins include seafood scraps and Christmas ham bones.
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