I’m sorry but did you just have a meal? What did you do with the leftover food scraps? It’s like stating the obvious, isn’t it, to say you’d have chosen the conveniently fast, greener, simple and easy to use option: you’d trusted the garbage disposal installed underneath the kitchen sink.

It’s a big help in the kitchen when you think of it this way. But do you know what can it really handle and what it cannot? It’s not a trash can after all. Remember, if you don’t treat them right, then your kitchen’s most used equipment probably won’t last you long either.

Proper Use of Garbage Disposal

In order to understand what you can and cannot put in it to so that it remains functional, you’ve got to understand a basic rule: the machine’s meant to shred the food waste so that they are small enough to pass through the pipes without sticking to it. Damaged or clogged disposals are the topmost reason why maintenance is called at the commercial and residential spots in the east valley in the first place. Where regular cleaning from a professional service is important, there’s a list of DO’s and DON’Ts that one can certainly make use of.

• Don’t send in bones from chicken, beef, lamb, or pork. The blades and motors cannot break them down effectively, leaving them to burn the motor or damage the blade.
• Don’t clear away the oil, grease, and fat into your garbage disposal. Once they cool, they’ll naturally solidify and block the drain.
• Peels, pits, and seeds from fruits are not such a good idea either; even vegetable peels may prove to be a problem.
• The harmless-looking egg shells are a complete no-no too for the inner membrane they have is able to wrap around the blade as well.
• Other food items that you should be avoiding include starchy foods (e.g. pasta and rice), shells (e.g. shrimp shells), coffee grounds (small amounts are ok), nuts (e.g. peanut butter), and non-organic stuff (e.g. broken glass, paper, cigarette butts).

Apart from this, healthy practices and knowing what you can send down the garbage disposal helps too.

• To leave the disposal running until you hear the food passing, ensuring that the drain is clear; if you hear or see for that matter something clogging the disposal, then immediately turn it off and use tongs or pliers instead of your fingers to pull it out if you can
• To use cold water whenever you are running the disposal because it would break the food more easily without letting the bigger fragments to accumulate on the blade
• Do allow for the water to run for extra 15-20 seconds after the disposal’s been turned off
• Make sure to add only small amount of scraps at an individual time; let it clear and then add more in similar fashion until you finish
• If you keep the garbage disposal blades sharp , it’ll continue to finely grind the food to keep with proper drainage
• Keep the power switched off until you’ve sent in the scraps