Trash or Garbage Disposal?

[goldberry]

Let's assume up front I'm not dedicated enough to compost. 

 

I used to live with a septic tank, so although we had a garbage disposal I rarely used it, except maybe for rinsing out the bottom of a cereal bowl, that type of thing.  Now I live in city limits with city water, sewage, etc.  I recently had a friend from out of state visiting that put half a plate of food down my garbage disposal.  I said, oh, it's okay to dump that in the trash first.  She looked at me really odd, and said, but you have a garbage disposal.  I said, "well, I just think it's not good to put that much food in it on a regular basis."  She said, "That's strange, I feel better about that than it rotting in the trash."

 

I do use the disposal.  But when I have already dumped most of the food in the trash, and am rinsing off the rest of the dish.  If you have a disposal and are not limited by septic or something else, is it normal for you to dump say, a half eaten plate of food into the garbage disposal?  Do you even give any thought to it?

[HomeAgain]

It still clogs pipes.  I'd rather it go in the trash.

[Laura Corin]

In many parts of the UK, food waste is collected separately and composted centrally.  In my area, that compost is given free of charge to farmers to improve the soil.

 

https://www.fifedirect.org.uk/topics/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&p2sid=73FB86C8-A835-EC95-EF8B140588F847F4&themeid=81E299FB-1BCF-4994-8C8A-233463B738F6

 

It seems really odd to me to put all those solids into the water waste as presumably they then have to be removed at the treatment plant - I didn't grow up with a sink disposal and everything went into the bin.  If the bin starts to smell, you take the bag out to the outside bin.

Edited September 1, 2017 by Laura Corin

[regentrude]

Is the treatment plant designed to remove.....solids?  Like of all kinds?  I was under the impression that all the wastewater in a house goes down into the same sewer system, so...from the shower, the sink, the washer, the toilet....all goes to the same place, right? 

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I know there's plenty of things that go down into the sewer that ISN'T supposed to go, but of all the things that do, I would think that specifically food waste would be like the least offensive, cause it's organic in nature.  It's not the same as flushing feminine products, pills, etc (which of course I don't do.)  But then, you chop up the food on top of that, I would think it would be probably the safest thing going down there. 

 

Vegetable peelings, sure. But food often contains fat. And that poses a huge problem for the sewer infrastructure.

Google fatberg. Warning, very gross.

[HomeAgain]

Food in the water has a tendency to produce fatbergs.  Your waste doesn't.

[Spryte]

I scrape the majority of what's on the plate into the garbage can. Residue from rinsing goes in the disposal, leftover cereal, a few other small things (lemon wedges, etc). We're not on septic, and we have an extra powerful disposal, but I was trained that way as a kid, and I still do it. I have memories of clogged disposals in rental homes, too. I'm sure ours would be fine, but ... eh.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I have a garbage disposal, but I rarely put anything in it.  No particular reason.  It's nice to have to clean the sink when food bits get in the sink, but I just tend to throw stuff out in the trash.

 

The house came with it.  KWIM?  It's not something I chose to have.

 

 

[Laura Corin]

Is the treatment plant designed to remove.....solids?  Like of all kinds?  I was under the impression that all the wastewater in a house goes down into the same sewer system, so...from the shower, the sink, the washer, the toilet....all goes to the same place, right? 

 

Well yes, but why put in extra stuff that has to be taken out and that doesn't do any harm in the bin (or even better in the recycling bin)?

 

I understand that these expectations are cultural - in China you don't put toilet paper into the toilet, you put it in a bin instead - but food doesn't seem like something so icky that it needs to be flushed away immediately.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Well yes, but why put in extra stuff that has to be taken out and that doesn't do any harm in the bin (or even better in the recycling bin)?

 

I understand that these expectations are cultural - in China you don't put toilet paper into the toilet, you put it in a bin instead - but food doesn't seem like something so icky that it needs to be flushed away immediately.

 

Well, I have never heard of anyone around here with a service that recycles food waste.  That would be nice, but there is no recycling bin for it.

 

One thing that is somewhat problematic is when it gets really warm the trash stinks to hell with food in it.  I just bring it out more often, but yeah that's kind of annoying.  And in summer...oh the lovely maggots (and their lovely smell).  Enough to knock you on your arse.  LOL 

Edited September 1, 2017 by SparklyUnicorn

[Laura Corin]

Well, I have never heard of anyone around here with a service that recycles food waste.  That would be nice, but there is no recycling bin for it.

 

One thing that is somewhat problematic is when it gets really warm the trash stinks to hell with food in it.  I just bring it out more often, but yeah that's kind of annoying.  And in summer...oh the lovely maggots (and their lovely smell).  Enough to knock you on your arase.  LOL 

 

We actually don't have food waste recycling but the next village over does.  We keep being promised it but....  We compost veg peelings at home but don't do cooked food because of encouraging rats.  So into the bin it goes.  We eat our leftovers though, so it isn't that much.

[SparklyUnicorn]

We actually don't have food waste recycling but the next village over does.  We keep being promised it but....  We compost veg peelings at home but don't do cooked food because of encouraging rats.  So into the bin it goes.  We eat our leftovers though, so it isn't that much.

 

Yeah we don't compost because our yard is extremely small, and I don't want to encourage pests either. 

 

We have a compost at the community garden that my husband built, but we only put leaves and garden scraps in it because it's in a densely populated urban area so we don't want to cause problems for the people who live there.

[regentrude]

Oh I totally know what a fatburg is and like I said, I DO try to avoid putting food in the disposal if I can.  But my post was in response to the idea of removing solids at the treatment plant.  A ground up half a chicken nugget that my kid dumped in the sink is a whole lot different than what gets flushed down the toilet (and no we don't use wet wipes or flush pills or tampons or anything like that.)

 

but the treatment plant is not equipped to remove fat. It congeals in the sewer. Chicken nuggets have a lot of fat; poop does not. 

Edited September 1, 2017 by regentrude

[UnionJack]

I put all food waste down the garbage disposal....sometimes half a lemon to make it smell fresh. It would be a big adjustment for me not to use a garbage disposal!

[regentrude]

I put all food waste down the garbage disposal....sometimes half a lemon to make it smell fresh. It would be a big adjustment for me not to use a garbage disposal!

 

What's hard about simply putting it in the compost bin? Or the trash, if you are compost adverse?

Edited September 1, 2017 by regentrude

[sassenach]

Trash first, then rinse the rest down the disposal.

[sassenach]

Can someone just tell me what a fatberg is? I'm afraid to google it.

 

[wintermom]

We actually don't have food waste recycling but the next village over does.  We keep being promised it but....  We compost veg peelings at home but don't do cooked food because of encouraging rats.  So into the bin it goes.  We eat our leftovers though, so it isn't that much.

 

We have home pick-up food waste recycling here, as well as plastic, paper and tins recycling, and it really cuts down on volume in the garbage.  It's a little challenging dealing with some food waste issues in the winter when the food stuff freezes in the bottom of the container. The cost for tax-payers is kind of crazy, too (typical poor contract for government), but if recycling gives you warm fuzzies, there are lots of those here. ;)

[Laura Corin]

We have home pick-up food waste recycling here, as well as plastic, paper and tins recycling, and it really cuts down on volume in the garbage.  It's a little challenging dealing with some food waste issues in the winter when the food stuff freezes in the bottom of the container. The cost for tax-payers is kind of crazy, too (typical poor contract for government), but if recycling gives you warm fuzzies, there are lots of those here. ;)

 

Our village doesn't even have a recycling point, because the village hall carpark, where the bins would be, is too tight a turn for the lorry.  We just take recycling to the central point when we go to town for other reasons though.  We don't take a car full of food waste, however......

[UnionJack]

We don't compost... It would just be a different process from what I've always done, including needing to empty the garbage more often due to food being in there.  We go to a cabin every summer that doesn't have a garbage disposal and I manage just fine :tongue_smilie: but I definitely prefer being able to throw away food using a disposal. 

 

 

 

 

What's hard about simply putting it in the compost bin? Or the trash, if you are compost adverse?

 

[Lady Florida.]

I had more than one plumber tell me not to put most food down the garbage disposal. Our pipes just aren't equipped to handle it plus as others pointed out, the stuff has to be sorted when it reaches the treatment plant. Using the disposal isn't always the most environmentally sound thing to do.

 

https://www.thespruce.com/what-not-to-put-in-a-garbage-disposal-2718870

 

From the link - 

 

"Despite protests by the appliance manufacturers, it's not easy for municipal processing plants to handle huge quantities of food material flushed down drains."

 

In many parts of the UK, food waste is collected separately and composted centrally.  In my area, that compost is given free of charge to farmers to improve the soil.

 

https://www.fifedirect.org.uk/topics/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&p2sid=73FB86C8-A835-EC95-EF8B140588F847F4&themeid=81E299FB-1BCF-4994-8C8A-233463B738F6

 

It seems really odd to me to put all those solids into the water waste as presumably they then have to be removed at the treatment plant - I didn't grow up with a sink disposal and everything went into the bin.  If the bin starts to smell, you take the bag out to the outside bin.

 

I so wish we had something like that. I wish municipalities in the U.S. encouraged more recycling and more composting. I don't see it happening on a big enough scale to make a difference, at least not in my lifetime. Sigh. 

 

We don't compost... It would just be a different process from what I've always done, including needing to empty the garbage more often due to food being in there.  We go to a cabin every summer that doesn't have a garbage disposal and I manage just fine :tongue_smilie: but I definitely prefer being able to throw away food using a disposal. 

 

There are a number of things I do now that are a different process than what I've always done. They all involved a time commitment until it became the normal thing to do. Of course it takes getting used to any change. Bringing reusable bags to the store comes to mind. At first I'd often forget to bring them, then when I remembered I didn't always bring enough. Now it's second nature to grab not only the number of bags I think I'll need, but a few extras too. I never composted until 7 or 8 years ago. It took a while to get used to saving kitchen scraps then trekking out the yard to dump them in the bin. Again, it's second nature now. 

Edited September 1, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[MEmama]

We have home pick-up food waste recycling here, as well as plastic, paper and tins recycling, and it really cuts down on volume in the garbage. It's a little challenging dealing with some food waste issues in the winter when the food stuff freezes in the bottom of the container. The cost for tax-payers is kind of crazy, too (typical poor contract for government), but if recycling gives you warm fuzzies, there are lots of those here. ;)

We have a few services in our town that pick up food waste for composting. In return for a small monthly fee, they take your bucket of compostables away every week and give you a fresh clean bucket and a bag of fully cooked compost for your garden.

 

We are slowly inching our way to curbside composting. Someday. :)

[UnionJack]

 

There are a number of things I do now that are a different process than what I've always done. They all involved a time commitment until it became the normal thing to do. Of course it takes getting used to any change. Bringing reusable bags to the store comes to mind. At first I'd often forget to bring them, then when I remembered I didn't always bring enough. Now it's second nature to grab not only the number of bags I think I'll need, but a few extras too. I never composted until 7 or 8 years ago. It took a while to get used to saving kitchen scraps then trekking out the yard to dump them in the bin. Again, it's second nature now. 

 

I totally get that!  Like flossing :-)  I didn't grow up flossing but at some point I decided it was a good idea and formed the new habit and do it every day!  I suppose I was just answering the OP's question....not looking for a change!  :-)

[fairfarmhand]

Is the treatment plant designed to remove.....solids?  Like of all kinds?  I was under the impression that all the wastewater in a house goes down into the same sewer system, so...from the shower, the sink, the washer, the toilet....all goes to the same place, right? 

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I know there's plenty of things that go down into the sewer that ISN'T supposed to go, but of all the things that do, I would think that specifically food waste would be like the least offensive, cause it's organic in nature.  It's not the same as flushing feminine products, pills, etc (which of course I don't do.)  But then, you chop up the food on top of that, I would think it would be probably the safest thing going down there. 

 

Actualyly, most food items will be so broken apart by the time they reach the plant that they;re a non problem.

 

Tampons...the plants actually design for those.

 

But the things that really mess up the plants are disposable wipes. Baby wipes, cleaning wipes, personal wipes...that kind of thing. The don't break down and create giant mats in the tanks that someone has to row out to in a boat and gather up. SOOO gross.

 

Even if it says flushable...Don't flush it!

 

BTW, we merely rinse out bowls and flush small bits of food in our disposal. I don't want large plates of food in there. The rest of our food scraps go to the animals or are composted.

Edited September 1, 2017 by fairfarmhand

[SamanthaCarter]

I've destroyed two garbage disposals in two separate rentals putting food in them. The first I think it had just reached the end of its expected life, but with the second, the plumber gave me the impression that garbage disposals are really finicky and bad for your pipes. He said don't use it other than to wash away particles that end up in the sink, no disposing of food waste. So I don't use mine. I occasionally still have to fix it when a stray popcorn seed gets lodged deep in there. I do not love garbage disposals.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited September 2, 2017 by SamanthaCarter

[Wheres Toto]

We are on a cesspool and have a garbage disposal.  I never heard that you need to limit what you put down it and dh has lived her for over 20 years.   I don't put large food remnants down it, those go into the trash.  What goes in the disposal is usually things the kids plop in the sink like milk with a few pieces of cereal in it, what's left after scraping off plates, maybe a stray noodle or bean that got lost while draining something.  The occasional ice cube.

 

We should compost but bears are a real problem around here.

[matrips]

We'll dump any food/ bones/ peels etc left on a plate in the trash, but I wouldn't say we scrape it completely clean. I probably use the disposal a couple times a week just from whatever ended up there. Fat/grease we pour into a jar, keep refrigerated, and then throw out when full.

[KungFuPanda]

I'll be THAT person who quotes her own post from the septic tank thread

 

This thread, more than any other, proves that we can argue about any ole s#!t.

I learned on a wastewater treatment field trip (homeschoolers really are weird) that the professional guys really HATE garbage disposals and Thanksgiving. They feel disposals are a mistake and aggressively spread the gospel of No FOGs (fats, oils, grease), feminine products, or wipes should going into these systems because they're not designed to handle them. Their solution for kitchen waste is to use use the trash. I did not do the landfill tour to hear the rebuttal.

Since I'm a giver, I give you the virtual tour: https://www.howardcountymd.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=bI8fYDL6oBI%3d&portalid=0

#scarredforlife

I regret that I can't recreate the smell for you.

[HomeAgain]

You know, there is one disposal I would consider putting large quantities of food in.  I saw it on a house on tv, where the disposal was actually hooked into a compost system.  On the back side of the house you could open the tap for fertilizer tea or take out the bottom tray for fertilizer.  I could definitely get behind something like that in more homes!

[Alessandra]

Garbage disposals were illegal in NYC until the late 1990's, but most people still don't have them, as their buildings prohibit disposals.

[historically accurate]

I'll be THAT person who quotes her own post from the septic tank thread

 

 

The wastewater treatment plant is one of only 3 field trips I remember from elementary school (the other two: apple orchard and the barbed wire museum). We live fairly close to the local ww plant now, and I always threaten my kids that I'm going to make them go there on a field trip when we drive by. 

 

I've never lived in a house with a disposal, so I trash the scrapings. My MIL scrapes everything off the plate into her disposal.

 

I haven't looked into it, but we're in a mobile home park, and I am 110% sure that composting isn't allowed here. They're really tight on the rules of what can be in your yard. We'd have to do the worm farm in the house, but I've never looked too much into it. 

[ktgrok]

I used to use the disposal all the time because it seemed tragic to have that food waste rotting in a plastic bag rather than returning the nutrients to the earth. 

 

As I've aged I've learned that too many nutrients in the water is actually a big issue, so now I guess I think it is better to put most of it in the trash?

[goldberry]

I used to use the disposal all the time because it seemed tragic to have that food waste rotting in a plastic bag rather than returning the nutrients to the earth. 

 

As I've aged I've learned that too many nutrients in the water is actually a big issue, so now I guess I think it is better to put most of it in the trash?

 

I thought all the wastewater has to be purified?  So there wouldn't be anything left after that, right?  So to me it is just more stuff that has to be cleaned out of the water.

 

I hadn't thought of happysmiley's POV, that it's probably not as gross as other kinds of waste, but it does make sense that the fat in the food is not a good addition.

 

We have a bear proof trashcan.  I also tie up our bags before putting them in there, and usually double bag when I'm throwing away raw meat (from trimming, etc.)  We've never had maggots, ever that I've seen or been aware of.  I know some people though who throw open trash directly into their outside trash bin.  Eww!  They had maggots, flies, and really bad smells.  

 

I guess in my case it's either going into a landfill sealed in a plastic bag to rot for all eternity, or going down the drain for excessive processing or possibly contributing to a fatberg. Neither option is especially appealing. 

 

Apparently, though, there are other people who feel as my friend, that it's gross the other way, throwing in the trash!

[J-rap]

We don't have a disposal, but my parents have had one for as long as I can remember.  At their house, we still scrape plates into the garbage, and the disposal just gets whatever is left that the water washes off.  Even if I peel potatoes or carrots, I scoop up what I can and throw it into the garbage, and the disposal just gets the remainder.  I have so many memories of their disposal clogging!

 

At our house, we scrape almost everything into the garbage, but some soft lumpy liquids (mushy cereal, soft vegetable soups, etc.) we'll flush down the toilet, since there is a half bath right off the kitchen.

[J-rap]

??? Why down the toilet?

 

Ha!  Because I don't want to throw a bowl of old mushy cereal or old vegetable soup into our kitchen garbage or it will leak.  I could throw it all into the kitchen sink, but then I'd of course have to go through the extra effort of picking out all the soft chunks which can't go down the drain.  The toilet can handle everything!

[J-rap]

i guess I don't junderstand why the kitchen drain can't handle it if there is no disposal?

 

Our pipes would clog pretty quickly if I tried to stuff soft food down into them.

[Laura Corin]

I promise I am not being a butt, but I don't understand what about the sink drain is more likely to clog up than the toilet? Don't they join up to the same pipe once they are under the house?

 

The toilet flushes with gallons of water and is thus designed to take solids - the sink doesn't have that kind of action.  The toilet pipe to the main sewer is large, whereas the sink pipe is small, so blockages can happen between sink and main sewer pipe.

 

In this situation, however, I'd pour the stuff through a sieve over a sink, then dump the contents of the sieve into the bin.

Edited September 2, 2017 by Laura Corin

[J-rap]

I promise I am not being a butt, but I don't understand what about the sink drain is more likely to clog up than the toilet? Don't they join up to the same pipe once they are under the house?

 

Laura explained it.  :)  Believe me, I used to try pouring things like that into our kitchen sink, but the pipes coming from the sink are just way too narrow.  They were continually clogging.  Maybe it doesn't help that our house is over 100 years old.

 

With the toilet just 5 steps away, it kind of solves everything.

[KungFuPanda]

The wastewater treatment plant is one of only 3 field trips I remember from elementary school (the other two: apple orchard and the barbed wire museum). We live fairly close to the local ww plant now, and I always threaten my kids that I'm going to make them go there on a field trip when we drive by.

 

I've never lived in a house with a disposal, so I trash the scrapings. My MIL scrapes everything off the plate into her disposal.

 

I haven't looked into it, but we're in a mobile home park, and I am 110% sure that composting isn't allowed here. They're really tight on the rules of what can be in your yard. We'd have to do the worm farm in the house, but I've never looked too much into it.

The worm compost is even easier than the outdoor one. I have both. If it's too cold, or rainy like today, I just use my indoor compost more. I harvest in the spring when I'm setting up my garden. Once it's set up, I do nothing to my worm bin but add scraps and occasionally top off with shredded paper. You do need a place to put it. It started in my kitchen, but the worms outgrew their original Rubbermaid bin and now they occupy a larger tub in the basement.

 

Between composting and recycling, some weeks we only have one bag of kitchen trash.

[wathe]

Disposals are illegal here.  I've never known anyone IRL to have one. 

 

We have curbside organic waste pickup weekly.  The township provides us with sturdy, relatively secure (we've found we need to add a bungee cord to keep out the raccoons during the warm months) green bins for the purpose.  We can line them with either newspaper or special composting liner bags to minimize mess.  It's a brilliant system.

 

 

[Paige]

Fruits and veggie peels/leftovers go in the disposal. Meat and fat/grease go in the trash. Starches like rice, noodles, potatoes will depend on quantity and my level of laziness. If the trash is full and I'm lazy, they'll go in the disposal and I'll feel guilty unless it's a small quantity. Otherwise, anything significant goes in the trash.

[6packofun]

We've lived without a disposal for a while, but I still wish I had one.  Mainly for fruits and veggies--they tend to attract flies/bugs even when in the trash and taken out fairly often--and also for when we have very wet or liquid stuff to throw away.  Not fat or grease, but I don't want to dump someone's unfinished soup or stew into the garbage because of leaks and just ew.  And I don't really want to take the time to strain unfinished food so the liquid goes down the drain and then I can throw out solids.  I'm just lazy that way. 

[KungFuPanda]

Reported

[Carrie12345]

I do have a septic, so I can only speak in theory, lol.
Garbage disposals kind of gross me out. I get that everything supposedly gets chopped up small enough to get washed away, but it still seems like quite a lot of potential ick for me.
Even with my regular drain and trap, I always feel like the pipes are gross and regularly shove at least baking soda and vinegar down there.

On composting, I only do it when it’s warm out. I’m way too lazy to go out in the snow or ice to handle it.  (And I have no place for an indoor holding spot.) Food goes in the trash all winter. We just try not to waste it to begin with.

[alpacawalker]

We compost everything that is compostable, scrape the rest into the bin, and only rinse the residue into the sink with a garbage disposal.  I'm in the camp that believes we don't need to add all the extra stuff into our water only for more chemicals and processes to remove it. 

[sassenach]

Zombie

[fairfarmhand]

On 9/1/2017 at 3:43 PM, happysmileylady said:

 

Is the treatment plant designed to remove.....solids?  Like of all kinds?  I was under the impression that all the wastewater in a house goes down into the same sewer system, so...from the shower, the sink, the washer, the toilet....all goes to the same place, right? 

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I know there's plenty of things that go down into the sewer that ISN'T supposed to go, but of all the things that do, I would think that specifically food waste would be like the least offensive, cause it's organic in nature.  It's not the same as flushing feminine products, pills, etc (which of course I don't do.)  But then, you chop up the food on top of that, I would think it would be probably the safest thing going down there. 

Dh is the operator of a municipal sewage plant. Food is nothing. It’s the same digested or not. Tampons are fine if you can get them to the sewer without clogging YOUR lines.( the system is designed to grind that up) Don’t even get me started on cleaning wipes thought. 

[May]

If a guest in my home did that, I wouldn’t have commented, but that’s just me. DH and I usually scrap plated in trash, rinse and then load into dishwasher. We have a garbage disposal but don’t use it for large amounts to food waste.

[fairfarmhand]

Goodness, re reading the thread from way back when, I gave the exact same answer. Sigh. At least I'm consistent.

I always get snagged by zombie threads. You'd think I'd learn by now!

[catz]

We used ours pretty liberally when we first moved into this 100 year old house.  But after having the plumber out a couple times, we are pretty sparse with what we put down there.  Not to mention we have a composter in the yard now which helps.  We plow a path to it for the winter.  

ETA - oops also didn't read far enough.  

Edited February 3, 2020 by FuzzyCatz

[Lady Florida.]

Didn't realize this was a zombie thread until I was scrolling through and saw my own post from 3 years ago. 😂