Flies in house: Rentokil expert explains how to defeat surge of pests after council strikes in Northern Ireland 2022

By Philip Bradfield
Published 13th Oct 2022, 12:51 BST
Updated 13th Oct 2022, 13:16 BST
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A pest control expert has given advice on how to tackle surging fruit flies in the wake of refuse collection strikes across Northern Ireland.

A straw poll of News Letter contacts across Northern Ireland confirmed that quite a few had noticed a substantial increase in the number of fruit flies invading homes over the weeks of recent industrial action.

A range of council areas suffered significant delays in having residential bins emptied.

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Armagh Craigavon and Banbridge Borough Council told the News Letter that it has received three complaints about flies during the industrial action, one of which related to fruit flies.

Fly tipping outside Newline recycling centre in Portadown after the council workers' strike last month.Fly tipping outside Newline recycling centre in Portadown after the council workers' strike last month.
Fly tipping outside Newline recycling centre in Portadown after the council workers' strike last month.

Paul Blackhurst, Head of Technical Academy at Rentokil, told the News Letter that it would be expected that households would notice an upsurge in fruit flies after such industrial action.

"It is a normal progression if organic bins are lying unemptied for a period of time," he said.

"Fruit flies have a very heightened sense of being able to detect those fermenting odours which are associated with the waste from fruit and vegetables and they will pick up on them from about five miles away.

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"They can go from egg to adult in around six to seven days in favourable conditions and when an adult is laying several hundred eggs over its lifetime you can think of the numbers just literally going up exponentially."

An illustration of one of the 4000 species of fruit flies that can cause such a nuisance to housholds.An illustration of one of the 4000 species of fruit flies that can cause such a nuisance to housholds.
An illustration of one of the 4000 species of fruit flies that can cause such a nuisance to housholds.

Householders need to be ruthless with any fruit or vegetables that are starting to go off, he said.

"The first thing is, get that waste into your outside bins."

Indoor and outside bins should be cleaned regularly and if bins cannot be cleaned due to industrial action, clean them at the earliest chance.

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He said a small squirt of supermarket fly spray into a bin that cannot be emptied for some time would be acceptable.

"Keep your fruit bowl clean as well, because residues build up at the bottom of the fruit bowl."

He also recommended buying door and window screens from discount stores for the summer months.

The colder weather will soon kill off the adults fies, he added.

"But they can still continue inside as that microclimate inside is still perfect for them,” he added.

Related topics:Northern Ireland