If you’re describing tiny white/cream things that looked like grains of rice but were moving on or around a garbage can, the most likely explanation is fly larvae (maggots) rather than rice.
🪰 Why they appear in garbage
Flies lay eggs in warm, moist organic material, including food waste, animal waste, and garbage. The eggs hatch into small, pale larvae that wriggle around. House-fly larvae are typically whitish, legless and tapered toward one end.
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Virginia Tech Publications
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Some fly eggs themselves can also look like tiny grains of rice.
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PestWorld
If you saw a large number suddenly crawling away from the garbage can, they may have matured and left the food source to find a drier place to pupate. This is a known behavior of several garbage-associated flies.
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UC IPM
What to do
Take the garbage bag outside and seal it tightly.
Remove any food or organic material stuck inside the bin.
Wash the bin thoroughly with hot, soapy water and let it dry completely.
Check underneath/around the bin for spilled food or other decaying material.
Keep the garbage covered and remove it regularly.
Don’t panic: seeing maggots around a garbage container is unpleasant but generally means flies have found a suitable food source—not that your house is infested with something mysterious.
If you upload a close-up photo, preferably with a coin or ruler beside them for scale, I can help determine whether they’re actually maggots, fly eggs, or something else.
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