Disgusting find in bin after council change to garbage collection wreaked havoc in trendy Sydney suburb

A fed-up resident of a trendy suburb has revealed the disgusting discovery he made in his bin after finding swarms of maggots and flies among piles of rubbish.

The frustrated man from Sydney’s west complained on Facebook that his big green bin is now the “most disgusting thing ever”.

“Ours is covered in flies, stinks to high heaven and when I look it’s full of maggots in it,” he wrote.

The resident is among dozens of locals blaming the increase in pests on the new FOGO (Food Organics Garden Organics) waste system rolled out by the Inner West Council in October 2023.

The small FOGO containers were rolled out in a bid to encourage residents to dispose of their food waste separately as part of efforts to reduce waste.

The green bins are collected weekly, while the yellow and red bins, used for recycling and general waste respectively, are collected every fortnight.

A photo of the disgusting garbage bin showed garbage bags filled with food waste covered in maggots.

The larva also appeared to be crawling on the side of the container.

The man said the nasty discovery posed a major health risk to others.

‘It appears to be a public health hazard if this is a widespread problem. We even flush our bins every week after collection,” he said.

Several residents said maggots had been a major problem for many households since the council started collecting red bins once every two weeks.

Others criticized the council’s decision to introduce the new small green FOGO bins closer to summer rather than rolling them out in winter.

Some said they often saw maggots on their rotting waste, long before the council made the move to introduce small FOGO containers.

Residents have become increasingly frustrated with the new FOGO bins (pictured) that the council rolled out last year in a bid to reduce household food waste

Locals have complained that the sight of maggots in their garbage bins is nothing new, as the insects often lurk in red bins (maggots in a bin pictured)

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Inner West Council for comment.

Flies found in garbage can pose the risk of spreading disease to people.

The insects often breed in discarded food scraps and can spread infection through contaminated waste.

A spokesperson for the Inner West Council told Daily Mail Australia the majority of residents supported the launch of FOGO.

“FOGO is a statutory requirement of the state government and every council is required to roll out a food recycling service by 2030,” he said.

‘Flies and maggots are a problem across Sydney this summer and in other council areas they are around rubbish bins with red lids.

‘Inner West Council still collects food waste on a weekly basis – it’s just in the green lid FOGO bin instead of the red lid bin.

‘Over the past month we have provided homes with a free six-month supply of compostable kitchen waste bin liners to help manage food waste. They can also collect these from our customer service centers.”

The latest issue comes as residents in the interior continue to express their frustrations at seeing waste overflowing from red bins.

Last month the council uploaded a video to their Facebook page asking residents to freeze their Christmas food scraps before throwing them in the bin.

The video showed Inner West resident Katie Green instructing locals on how to store their leftover food in the freezer before putting it out with the rest of their rubbish.

“Pack your shrimp and waste in a bag, put it in the freezer and the day before noon, put your frozen bag of food waste in the green bin and put it outside,” she said.

The council, which reduced general household waste collections to once a fortnight, says the move has been a disaster, leaving bins overflowing with rubbish (pictured)

The council uploaded a video to their Facebook page last month instructing residents how to store leftover food in the freezer over Christmas (pictured) before taking out their rubbish on bin day.