Maggots and white mites are the two tiny white bugs on garbage cans. These bugs have a habit of infesting trash bins if you don’t dispose of the wastes regularly.
However, there are other white bugs that make the garbage cans their home.
This guide reveals the five little white bugs that are most likely to infest garbage or trash bins.
You’ll find out why they sneak inside the garbage cans. And the best way to get rid of them and prevent them from coming back.
Let’s get into it.
White Maggots
Maggots in the trash bins are the larvae of flies that infest homes. So, they can be larvae of house flies, phorid flies, fungus gnats, and fruit flies.
These flies deposit their eggs in the decaying trash like food wastes, rotting fruits, and vegetables in the garbage cans.
When these eggs hatch, maggots, which are tiny legless white larvae, appear.
These maggots turn into pupae. And they emerge out of pupae as adult flies with developed wings that are ready to breed.
The undisposed wastes in the trash bins of your kitchen, yard, basement, and garden can be the source of fly infestation in your home and property.
Later in the post you’ll find out how to treat them.
But before that let’s get into another tiny white bug that appears in garbage cans.
White Mites
White mites like mold mites and grain mites are common tiny white bugs in garbage cans.
Also known as garbage mites, white mites infest garbage cans if there are decaying organic wastes like food wastes and plant wastes in the trash bins.
The decaying organic matter and the molds that form on them because of excessive dampness are the food sources for these mites.
These mites are also common in compost piles where there’s a lot of rotting organic wastes.
Under warm and humid conditions, garbage mites multiply quickly.
Although harmless, these mites are a complete nuisance.
Garbage mites are a common problem not just in the trash bins of your outdoors, but also of your kitchen.
Undisposed kitchen wastes in the trash bins of the kitchen becomes the breeding ground for garbage mites.
Both grain mites and mold mites are common food pests that target stored grains and flour.
These bugs are microscopic and can be difficult to spot with the naked eye when their numbers are low.
However, when their numbers increase, they appear as tiny white dot-like insects crawling on the garbage can.
A heavy garbage mites infestation makes them appear as thin layer of white or gray dust.
Inside your kitchen, these garbage mites appear in places like kitchen countertops, pantry shelves, and kitchen storages.
Despite being harmless, these tiny white bugs can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive people.
White Springtails
White springtails, also known as snow fleas, are tiny wingless jumping insects.
Moist and damp organic matter such as wet soil beds, compost piles, and garbage cans are their feeding and breeding grounds.
So, trash bins with a lot of rotting damp wastes will surely attract these bugs.
Springtails of all colors, including the white springtails, are harmless bugs. They don’t bite.
They are jumping bugs that use their fork-like structure under their abdomen to jump.
Springtails can also sneak inside the house. And they’ll target places like bathroom, basement, and kitchen where there’s a lot of water usage.
Springtail bugs can also gather near windows if there’s decaying organic wastes, dense vegetation, or wet soil beds underneath the window.
Parking your car near vegetation with white springtails can also cause these insects to jump off the plants and land on your car.
Springtails are harmless bugs. They don’t bite and they don’t spread any diseases.
Psocids
Psocids, also known as booklice or barklice, are tiny baby cockroach-like insects that thrive in decaying organic wastes.
So, garbage cans, compost piles, decaying leaf beds, are perfect homes for them.
They’re pale, slender, whitish, or light-brownish, and oval-shaped.
Psocids feed on a variety of decaying organic materials like decaying plant matter. Molds and fungi form a major part of their diet too.
Psocids are harmless bugs. But their presence in and around the garbage cans indicate waste problems and high humidity levels.
And psocids can even sneak inside the house, and in places like your bedroom.
White Flies
Whiteflies are small, white winged plant pests. They feed on the plant’s sap, and they hide underneath the plant’s leaves.
White flies can infest garbage cans if they contain decaying plant material. They fly in swarms if disturbed.
White flies look like lint when they’re stationary on garbage cans and plants.
White flies can bite humans too. But it’s an interrogatory bite to find out if the thing they’re sitting on is a plant or not.
How To Get Rid Of Bugs In Garbage Cans?
Proper sanitation and waste management practices are essential to keep bugs out of garbage cans and to prevent them from spreading.
Disposing of the wastes in the garbage can regularly, keeping it away from the moisture sources, and ensuring that the garbage can lid is closed prevents bugs from sneaking inside the garbage can.
To get rid of the bugs in the garbage cans, pour a mixture of bleach and hot water in the can.
And close the lid for 10-15 minutes.
The mixture will kill the insects in the trash bin.
Dispose of the wastes and the dead bugs. And wash the garbage can with hot soapy water to clean it.
Cleaning of the garbage cans is essential because it removes the molds and food stains that can attract bugs like mites and flies.
Also, control the moisture problem on your property by fixing water leakages. Moisture increases the dampness levels, and it attracts bugs and insects.
If the bug-problem in the garbage can persists, then it’s clear sign that there’s a source of infestation that lies somewhere else in your home or property.
In that case, hire a professional pest controller for at least a preliminary inspection of your home.
Dr. Thomas Orbert is a PhD in Entomology with extensive research experience in ectoparasites and microbials. He has also worked in the spaces of ecology conservation and has multiple years of experience in field research and scientific publishing.