I have been promoting composting through CBSM since 1993, when Doug McKenzie-Mohr and I worked on an award-winning project in Nova Scotia.
One of the barriers to composting kitchen waste that I often hear is people are concerned about having fruit flies in their kitchen. I have shown how to build fruit fly traps on television in the past, and the response has been very positive. They are particularly useful at this time of year in Canada as the fruit flies are abundant. We don't want people to quit composting because of a few flies, or concerns about having them.
So I created a YouTube video on how to build these simple and effective traps. You can view it at http://www.beyondattitude.com. Please feel free to use it for your own campaigns if you run into this barrier.
Ken Donnelly
Vice President, Atlantic Canada
Lura Consulting
Canada
www.beyondattitude.com
Removing a Composting Barrier
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Hi Ken,
Nice looking video. Not having fruit flies in our home was really critical to us because we ferment kombucha, wine and beer. One fruit fly will destroy an entire batch and all the effort that went into it. We also compost in worm bins which can be awful if they get a fruit fly infestation. We truly struggled with this problem and I tried many different traps including the one you built. My desire to minimize waste in our home (especially disposables) means that I don't use plastic wrap. Even so I borrowed some from a neighbor to build these traps you demonstrated. Eventually I found the best success in trapping them actually came from no plastic wrap but instead just adding a drop of dish liquid to the bait liquid (we use apple cider vinegar) and stirring till it dissolves. The soap breaks the tension on the surface of the liquid and the fruit flies cannot touch down on it to feast without falling in and drowning. Perhaps the dish liquid trick will add to your fruit fly arsenal and get even more people composting.
good luck,
Laura
Laura Biddulph
Community Outreach Specialist
Center for EcoTechnology
United States