Your trusty garbage disposal is a pretty miraculous invention, helping you break up all kinds of solid material before it washes away down your kitchen drain. Unfortunately, it might not be as miraculous as you think. While your garbage disposal definitely makes it easier to get rid of certain kitchen waste, it’s not equipped to handle everything.
Even material that’s soft or liquid can be a horrendous accident waiting to happen if you try to rinse it down without a second thought.
Some things are obvious, of course: You wouldn’t try to put a rock or a piece of wood down your garbage disposal. Nor would you put something like glue or melted candle wax. But maybe you haven’t thought about these certain food items that seem harmless enough at first…but then you realize what happens to them after they go down the pipes.
Grains
You’ve probably noticed that grains absorb water and increase in size. Rice and oatmeal are small when they’re dry in comparison to what they look like when they’re cooked. Same as pasta, which is made from a type of wheat flour known as semolina.
Unfortunately, these grain products continue to absorb water even after they’ve been broken up by the garbage disposal and sent down the drain. If you try to dispose of a large enough quantity, you could be looking at a bad blockage. Even something as simple as plain all-purpose flour is bad. You might have noticed that flour turns into a thick goop when it mixes with water — this is what will be collecting in your pipes!
Peels and Skins
Most fruits and vegetables can be broken up by the garbage disposal without a problem, but the thick skins and peels they come with are a little too durable to be broken down completely. Some peels might seem obvious to you — you have no inclination to put a banana peel, orange peel, or avocado skin down the garbage disposal. But what about the skins you peel off a potato or the skin you unwrap from an onion?
These peels and skins are like membranes around food, and when they’re broken up by the garbage disposal, they create a net that catches other foodstuffs, creating a clog.
Oils and Fats
Oh, this is an important one. Nearly half of all sewer overflows can be attributed to some kind of oil or fat going down somebody’s kitchen sink! In some cases, it might be because somebody tried to rinse away animal fat like bacon grease — it’s liquid when it’s hot in the frying pan, but it quickly congeals into a solid mass once it cools off. For this same reason, you should never try to grind up whole pieces of meat, such as a chicken breast or ground beef (whether raw or cooked).
Even vegetable oils, which are liquid at room temperature, can create a problem. That’s because oils and fats tend to be sticky, so they build up along the walls of a drain. As other material passes through, it gets stuck in the fat, and mass then builds up.
Eggshells
There’s a misconception out there that grinding up eggshells will sharpen a garbage disposal’s blades — don’t fall for it! Eggshells will actually dull the blades, and while the fine particles of shell aren’t so bad on their own, when rinsed away, they can easily clump together, especially if they stick to oily substances building up around the edge of the pipes.
Pits and Bones
Don’t put anything this hard and solid down your garbage disposal. Sometimes it happens by accident, and other times by sheer negligence. Pits, such as those from peaches, olives, avocado, and other produce, as well as bones will do damage to your garbage disposal. Additionally, even if your garbage disposal isn’t tripped up, it won’t be able to break them up into fine enough particles that they rinse away effectively.
Produce Stickers
You know those little stickers that come on all your fruits and vegetables? You might think it’s harmless to let them rinse away down the sink, but think again! Their stickiness makes them prime for collecting along the walls of your drain the same way fats and oils do. Even if they do make it all the way down your drain and into the sewer, they could be detrimental to the filters in waste treatment centers.
And Finally, Pollutants Like Paint, Motor Oil, and Medications
These won’t clog up your drain, but they’re still terrible to pour down your sink, as they’ll contaminate the places where wastewater is deposited, proving to be a real detriment to the ecosystem. Instead of washing them down the sink, take them to a proper hazardous material disposal center.