What Foods Are Safe To Put Down The Garbage Disposal?
Because it’s meant to dispose of food waste, the title “trash disposal” is a little deceptive. Your plumber Appleton Wisconsin assumes you’re not putting plastic, glass, or metal down the garbage disposal, but a few less-obvious foods are on the no list below.
What You Can Use Your Disposal For
Our Tureks Plumbing team, pipe repair Appleton WI, has compiled a list of foods you can and cannot put down your trash disposal. Garbage disposals can grind just about anything you throw at them. Your plumbing, on the other hand, is a different matter, states Fox Valley Plumber.
What You Can’t Put Down Your Disposal
That bacon grease you spilled down the drain a while ago may have been the start of a blockage down the road that plumbing maintenance Appleton WI will need to fix.
Grease, Fats, and Oils
All of our experts agreed that fats, oils, and grease should never be disposed of down the sink—or any drain for that matter. They may come out as liquids, but those things can solidify and form blockages farther downstream in the water system. In fact, approximately 70% of sewage overflows are caused by grease.
Additionally, creamy foods like peanut butter and dairy products come under the grease, fats, and oils category, which many people are unaware of. As a result, butter, heavy cream, and ice cream are all gone.
Importantly, small quantities of grease can’t always be avoided when using the disposal—think sautéed veggies or creamy sauces—which is why you should always run the disposal with cold water. In that case, cold water is essential.
Foods High In Carbohydrates
It’s OK to scrape the last of the macaroni off a plate, but a takeaway container of week-old fried rice? Toss it in the garbage can. Large amounts of starchy items like rice, pasta, and potatoes break down into a mush that clogs your drain and gums up your disposal, explains Gilmore Plumbing Heating and Air heating company Sacramento.
Vegetable Peels
Also harmful are celery, maize husks, artichokes, edamame pods, asparagus, and rhubarb.
As strange as they may sound, fruit and vegetable peels may create similar difficulties, particularly if you jam a lot down the garbage disposal at once. Individual peels are thin and have little heaviness to them. They may also block pipes in the same way fibrous foods can.
Coffee Grinds, Eggshells, and Shellfish
Eggshells are another popular waste meal, with 33% of our survey respondents admitting to putting them down the trash disposal.
Although they seem to be innocuous, they do not dissolve rapidly, causing a considerable volume of them to gather and clog the drain, particularly if you have older pipes. Shellfish and coffee grounds are the same way since they don’t break down readily and are also reasonably oily—a double whammy.
Foods You Can Toss in the Disposal
Below, our experts share what can go in your disposal.
Citrus Rinds
It may surprise you to find that putting the rinds of oranges and other citrus fruits into your garbage disposal is beneficial. They not only help to clean your disposal organically, but they also leave it feeling excellent and fresh.
Ground Coffee
There are conflicting answers on this one, but we don’t mind if you pour a small number of coffee grounds down the drain. However, don’t put too much in because it might build up in the pipes and cause a blockage or backup. This is due to the oil found in coffee grinds.
Cooked Meat Scraps
When you’re cleaning up after supper, dump any leftover meat scraps in the garbage disposal. But, once again, no enormous amounts or substantial pieces.
The majority of fruits and vegetables Almost all fruits and vegetables are safe to throw in the garbage disposal, as are most veggies. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule, which will be discussed further below.
Little bones
Bones are challenging to break down in a garbage disposal. Therefore we recommend that you throw them away rather than put them down the garbage disposal. However, if you happen to drop a little bone down the garbage disposal, it’s usually not a huge deal and should grind up without causing any problems.
Contact Tureks Plumbing Today For Garbage Disposal Repair
If you are having any issues with your garbage disposal contact our team today.
