Flies can be an incredibly frustrating and relentless pest throughout the warmer months, particularly if you store your bins on the driveway or in the garden. The smell of rotting food attracts these bothersome insects, while warm weather speeds up decomposition, and an unsealed or poorly fitting lid enables them to lay eggs inside.
If you've noticed flies appearing to congregate around your bins, there's a remarkably simple method you can use to keep them at bay. Cleaning enthusiast and TikTok content creator Anna Louisa, known as Anna Louisa at Home on social media, recently shared several fly repellent techniques, including one specifically for tackling the troublesome insects swarming around bins.
You won't need any chemical products, just one natural ingredient from your kitchen cupboard: cinnamon.
How to keep flies away from bins
Anna Louisa's fly prevention tip is incredibly easy to put into practice. Simply sprinkle a generous amount of ground cinnamon into your bin and across the lid. That's all there is to it. This method works regardless of whether the bin is empty or only partially filled.
The same approach applies when placing cinnamon around your property's entry points. The fragrance will help mask unpleasant odours emanating from the bin's contents, and discourage flies from lingering near the bins.
Flies also detest powerful-smelling ingredients such as lemons and rosemary. Cinnamon can likewise be used in homemade remedies to keep flies away from your home. The pungent scent of cinnamon will discourage flies from gathering around your bins, making it a brilliant alternative to cayenne pepper. You can also dab cinnamon essential oil onto cotton wool pads for a less messy option.
Why cinnamon repels flies
Cinnamon repels flies owing to its potent oils, such as cinnamaldehyde and eugenol, which overwhelm their heightened sense of smell, aggravate their taste receptors, and interfere with their ability to communicate with one another. The volatile organic compounds present in cinnamon generate a powerful fragrance that masks the smells of food, waste, or decomposing matter in bins that flies are ordinarily attracted to.
Flies have taste receptors on their feet and tiny hairs across their bodies, and upon coming into contact with cinnamon, the spice irritates their senses considerably. Lucie Bradley, gardening and greenhouse expert at Easy Garden Irrigation, told Martha Stewart: "It contains cinnamaldehyde, which disrupts the nervous system of insects, making it difficult for them to move, find food, or locate mates."
As well as deterring flies, cinnamon can equally be used to repel other insects, including ants, fungus gnats, mites, aphids, mosquitoes, fruit flies, and wasps.
