Garbage Disposals???

[anakiwa]

So tell me- what is and is not supposed to go down a garbage disposal?

Growing up, one always had to put things in the trash. Everywhere I've lived for the last several years comes with a disposal- and I've gotten more and more lazy about pulling things out of the sink.

Tonight I made dinner and put beet skins and ends, shallot skins and ends, and egg shells down the disposal. Well they made it through the disposal, but completely plugged up the pipe. Both sides of the double sink were completely plugged (in fact when I would turn on the disposal, it would shoot everything from that side of the sink up through the other sink, spraying debris all over the dishes that were drying on that side). Eventually I figured out how to open the bottom of the pipe and was eventually able to clean up the mess and now I have a functioning sink again.

Initially I was thinking the egg shells were where I went wrong, but it seemed like the shallot skins were doing more of the plugging. Any thoughts?

[Andrea]

Fingers






Hehehee..... sorry

[OakLeaf]

I say the shallot skins (anything that isn't "crisp" won't grind). Eggshells are actually supposed to be good for the dispos-alls, they help sharpen the blade.

That said, I don't use mine. "Up north," I compost; "down south," it just jams every single time I use the stupid thing. Supposedly there's a net environmental benefit to using them, but I think that may be only in places where water is plentiful. You have to use a LOT of water and only run one thing down it at a time.

Drain screens are your friend

[Cindyloo]

Never, ever put raw chicken skin through a garbage disposal. It gets all stringy and caught up in the mechanism. It then decomposes and STINKS like no other....

[Zen]

Why not just keep an old coffee can or similar container on your counter top for items like that?

Coffee grounds and eggshells are especially good as compost.
Not chicken skin or meat, though.

[withm]

Disposers don't last forever. The one at my old house "appeared" and "sounded like" it was grinding up food... and it was. Sort of. But it was not grinding it up enough to be washed away, and it accumulated about 50' away in the pipes running thru the basement ceiling. It took two plumber's visits to diagnose this, AND a new disposer.... So if your's is more than say 10 years old, I'd spring for a new one, which is cheaper than 2 plumbers visits, esp if you can install it yourself.

[7rider]

My dad one time tried to put lobster shells down my garbage disposal! Boy, did that NOT work! And he was a plumber!!! On the positive side, tho', he made sure I was well supplied with tools when I bought my townhouse...and he knew how to put them to use to repair the damage!!

I have a friend who works for the public works department in her town, and rails incessantly against garbage disposals. She says most sewage treatment facilities are optimized to treat human waste and not kitchen scraps.

Except for the occasional egg shells (which, this time of year, are best dried, crushed, and added to your bird seed to supplement the calcium for egg-laying wild birds), nothing really goes down our disposals except "mistakes". Stinky trash - chicken bones, fat/gristle - goes in a baggie in the freezer until trash day. Spent oil, liquid fats, go in an empty jar or can under the sink and discarded when full. I wish I could say I was a better composter. Bunny poo (which is GREAT for the garden) and old hay gets composted, but not much else sadly.

[Eden]

It doesn't sound like you put anything bad in it, just be sure to feed it slowly and run water while you do it and everything should be fine.

there are a few things which I will never (again ) put down my disposal..... the green ends of leeks are bad, bad, bad, as is even a small quantity of seaweed (I use sheets in broth for miso soup), but I can plug it up even with safe stuff if I try to feed it too fast. Onion and shallot type skins will really only grind up if something else goes in with them and dense things like potato peelings have to go in quite slowly.

[divingbiker]

About 10 years ago, when my kitchen sink was clogged, a plumber told me not to run vegetables through the disposal. Since I'm a vegetarian, that's pretty much all I ever put in it, and I thought what the hell good is it if you can't put vegetables in it.

But since then, I only put soft things like soup and cooked vegetables in the disposal, and I've not had another clog. Any raw vegetable scraps go in the trash. Can't compost because there are too many rats around.

[snapdragen]

I've had bad luck putting onion skins (or shallot skins) down the disposal. Our last plug was two Christmas Eves ago - big fun in the snap house, washing dishes in the laundry tub.

[Trek420]

Fingers

Hehehee..... sorry

OMG, that is always in the back of my mind. But disposals wear out and not only is compost great for a garden and the planet and so on but saves wear and tear on the disposal.

Growing up we composted. It just makes sense. We pay for produce including parts we don't eat,we pay to have the waste disposed of, then we pay for soil amendment and compost

It's best not to put any protein in, attracts critters.

I've replaced the plumbing here twice, snaked it out and replaced some pipes, then later the sink backed up and replaced plumbing to the outside, then the disposal died.

Since I'm remodeling ah heck, take the whole blasted thing out.

The people I bought from fried everything in lard I saw the pipes when the first plumber took them out.

I'd hate to see their arteries

[Trek420]

egg shells (which, this time of year, are best dried, crushed, and added to your bird seed to supplement the calcium for egg-laying wild birds)=

This is cool, what a great idea!

[Tuckervill]

I have a brand new heavy duty Insinkerator brand disposal. It's no pansy. It can grind up anything, and I run it while I rinse the sink, thereby using the water twice (water is not an issue here...except for too much of it at present). It does say to avoid stringy vegetables, like celery. But do put the bones and eggshells in it. I don't compost because I don't garden, (ever since youth baseball took over my springs) and disposals are supposed to be eco-friendly.

I'm fascinated that sewer treatment facilities don't take into account garbage disposals....I really doubt it, having worked for a city water utility. At least where I live, I know they prepare for every eventuality. But isn't human waste just vegetables that went through prior processing?

Karen

[Trek420]

isn't human waste just vegetables that went through prior processing?

Karen

ewww LOL

[Zen]

But isn't human waste just vegetables that went through prior processing?

Not unless your vegetables contain E. coli O157:H7