Home kitchen sink "garbage disposal" units

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Kira

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I just clogged the kitchen drain by using the disposal unit. All the peels from vegetables for a stew proved too much.

My sink is a double so the drain "Y"'s into one. There's a baffle at the "Y" which slows the flow. Yes, I had the water flowing during the process.

Here's my problem: I hate to waste water or even see it wasted. I was told by an environmental engineer that disposals are good as they increase the concentration of digestible waste in sewage. Effluent is very dilute and adding solids is better for the sewage treatment plant.

Trouble is that you have to chase the ground up veg matter with lots of fresh water to keep the drain pipes clear.

That adds to the dilution. That's not good. Maybe these units should be banned. I always thought they were superfluous things Kira
 
The other side of the argument that I've heard is that they're good for the environment because they reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill.
 
I was told by my plumber that they are an expensive waste of money and food should go in the garbage can instead of clogging your pipes.....looks like he was right.
28.gif
 
I was also told by my high school earth science teacher not to worry about water....because none of it can escape the Earth's atmosphere and gravity unless the planet explodes.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
Effluent is very dilute and adding solids is better for the sewage treatment plant.


I routinely add solids to the sewage treatment plant every morning after my second cup of coffee. However, I do not use the garbage disposal to accomplish this task.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
I just clogged the kitchen drain by using the disposal unit. All the peels from vegetables for a stew proved too much.

My sink is a double so the drain "Y"'s into one. There's a baffle at the "Y" which slows the flow. Yes, I had the water flowing during the process.

Here's my problem: I hate to waste water or even see it wasted. I was told by an environmental engineer that disposals are good as they increase the concentration of digestible waste in sewage. Effluent is very dilute and adding solids is better for the sewage treatment plant.

Trouble is that you have to chase the ground up veg matter with lots of fresh water to keep the drain pipes clear.

That adds to the dilution. That's not good. Maybe these units should be banned. I always thought they were superfluous things Kira


maybe your garbage disposal is a bad model?

I always liked them for plate scrapings. The regular trash goes in the trash but when you wash your plate or bowl the garbage disposal is better than dumping the strainer 2x
 
I watched something on TV about how sewage plants worked. It sounded like a fair amount of work to get rid of water, so as to get to solids and sludge which then could be condensed and then attacked by microbes to be digested. So in a sense I could see extra water being a problem for the sewage plant. But water seems quite necessary to everything flowing, too much solids and I'd be concerned with clogs.

Could always get a composter. No scraps going to the landfill nor to the sewage plant.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
I just clogged the kitchen drain by using the disposal unit. All the peels from vegetables for a stew proved too much.
Kira


Kheerah,

Why would you not throw away peels from veggies in the GARBAGE "can"?!?! I love stew but c'mon!!
 
To consider it so superfluous, and thinking they might need to be banned, you sure were using the ---- out of it to clog the drain. Maybe you should compost your kitchen waste.
 
Rather than taking the easy way out and simply shoveling trash down the drain, you could compost the waste vegetable material. Not only do you keep it out of your drain, but you also keep it out of the waste stream and provide a quality soil additive for your garden.
 
The amount of water used by a garbage disposal for normal usage is trivial. We compost a lot of waste that used to go down the disposal- such as masses of peelings (we never had a clogging issue as our disposal is a large one in a single sink so that it pumps the water all the way through the traps and into the main line). But we still use it for food left on plates before they go in the dishwasher, and similar stuff. It IS good for the wastewater treatment plants as it adds non-phosphate non-nitrate nutrients that help the "good" bacteria clean up the effluent.
 
We one time clogged our pipes with carrot peelings through the garbage disposal. Since then we've decided to only use the disposal for small things like plate scrapings, as was previously suggested. I also use it sometimes when I trim meat, because if that went in the garbage it would start to smell bad before the garbage can was full.
 
The ISE badgers are made out of plastic. The housing cracked and leaked that's why I replaced mine with a Wasteking. If they got banned it wouldn't bother me. The trash is fine for most things anyway. My house came with one or I wouldn't have it.
 
Originally Posted By: sprite1741
The ISE badgers are made out of plastic. The housing cracked and leaked that's why I replaced mine with a Wasteking. If they got banned it wouldn't bother me. The trash is fine for most things anyway. My house came with one or I wouldn't have it.


This is true. I wouldn't mind one just because "other people"

Seem to like removing my drain strainer and shoving food down the drain.

Of course my house came with a builder grade sink that is already impossible to keep clean and one of those "other people" put a hot enough pan in the sink to melt it in one spot... and it was peeling in another spot as well.

Next year's project will probably be a Large single drain stainless sink and when I redo the plumbing I might go with a garbage disposal at the same time.
 
I have jammed mine up a few times ... they don't like ingesting plastic forks.

I did have to have the one replaced in the apartment sink, there was water running out of the power cord.

The maintenance people clocked it wrong and it had completely missed the trap.
 
I remember doing something similar when growing up. But then, I didn't know any better. Just following "the rules". Why anyone would do this NOW though, in 2016, just amazes me.....

My 20 yr. old cheap disposer recently froze up. I intend on removing it and not installing another. Why bother? I never used it to grind chicken bones, meat scraps, etc. Everything went in the trash. Raw meat scraps are easily dealt with: Put them in a bag and freeze solid. No smell, no fuss, no stinking trash either.

It sounds like YOUR disposer has seen far too much veg shredding to be considered "superfluous" and "banned".
 
Originally Posted By: Doog
I was told by my plumber that they are an expensive waste of money and food should go in the garbage can instead of clogging your pipes.....looks like he was right.
28.gif


So true. garbage disposals are an unnecessary and expensive kitchen utensil that WILL break. I don't have one, I wouldn't use one.
 
Don't want a garbage disposal, then don't have one.

I prefer having one. Only ever had one clogging issue, and learned our lesson.

We compost peelings, etc..., use the disposal for the odds and ends that end up in the sink. No issues since.

In a grand total of two houses and a few decades, I broke one, and it was a contractor grade badger.

And the amount of water used when using the disposal is nothing - for the sewage treatment plant it won't notice any "dilution" that you would notice on your end.
 
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