How often should you clean your wheelie bin?

For most households, cleaning the general waste and food bins once a month keeps smells, flies and bacteria under control. Recycling and garden bins can usually go a little longer — every two to three months is fine unless they've held something messy.

If anyone in the home is immunocompromised, or you have pets, babies or a lot of food waste, lean towards the more frequent end.

Heat speeds up decomposition, and warm bins are where flies lay eggs. Those eggs can hatch into maggots in as little as 24 hours. Through June, July and August, a fortnightly clean — timed for just after your collection, while the bin is empty — makes a real difference.

A clean, dry bin gives flies nothing to feed on or lay eggs in, which is the single most effective way to prevent maggots.

Rinsing with a hose isn't enough — it just moves the grime around. A proper clean uses a high-pressure wash to lift baked-on residue from the base and walls of the bin, followed by a sanitiser to kill bacteria and a deodoriser to leave it smelling fresh.

The waste water should be collected rather than washed down the street drain, where it can pollute watercourses.

You can do it yourself with a pressure washer, gloves, a long brush and a disinfectant — just be ready for the smell and the runoff. The catch is timing: it only works if you do it consistently, right after each collection.

A monthly service takes it off your plate entirely. We clean your bin the same day or day after it's emptied, while it's empty, so you never have to think about it. In Hamilton and across Lanarkshire that costs just a few pounds a bin per month.