MAGGOT-infested bins have forced a Fleet mother to call for a weekly food waste collection service.
Helen Lewis has accused Hart District Council of forcing residents to live in Victorian era squalor because of its fortnightly waste service.
“The combination of hot weather and fortnightly bin collections has meant the number of bins crawling with maggots is at an unacceptable level,” she warned.
“It is a serious health risk and needs to be addressed. Black bins are constantly crawling with maggots and flies and the smell emanating from them is vile.”
Horrendous
Mrs Lewis, whose children aged five and eight attend Fleet Infant and Velmead Junior schools, said: “We’ve had maggots in the bins before but not on this scale.
“Just talking to other parents at the school gates it appears that people are suffering from the problem so much more than before. Recently the problem has been absolutely horrendous.
“Millions of maggots does sound an exaggeration but you really couldn’t see the rubbish for them. It was really quite foul.
“We spent three or four days pouring boiling water, bleach and disinfectant into the bin trying to get rid of them. But with young children and a cat we’ve got to be very careful.
“The council says it wants to make the place cleaner and greener but we are now having to double wrap everything so we are putting twice as many plastic bags to landfill.”
Maggots
Mrs Lewis, who has lived in Kenilworth Road, Fleet, for seven years, added: “Even though we pay one of the highest levels of council tax in the country, it would appear that we cannot expect a high level of service in return.
“As a compromise, why can’t the council implement a seasonal system, with bins collected weekly during the summer and fortnightly during the winter?”
Stephen Parker, Hart District Council’s cabinet member for the environment, said: “Maggots get in bins because flies lay eggs on open food waste which is placed in the bins.
“Maggots hatch from eggs in about one day.
“The only way to eliminate maggots from bins is to ensure food is wrapped and sealed before flies can get to them.
“If there are already eggs on the food waste before wrapping, the maggots will be trapped in the sealed wrap and will not affect the bin.”