What Should You Never Put Into a Garbage Disposal?

Your garbage disposal is great at keeping your food waste separate from your trash. It reduces smells in your kitchen and can even help protect the environment. With less plastic trash bags used per week, you’ll be reducing plastic waste on earth just a little bit. With fewer food scraps clogging your drain, you’ll have less buildup and corrosion in your pipes that can cause leaks and pipe bursts. But there are ways to ensure that your garbage disposal lasts a long time. One way is to simply avoid putting things down the garbage disposal. Below are the top eight things you should never put down your garbage disposal.

1. Hard Vegetables with Fibrous Strings

Vegetables such as celery, asparagus and corn husks have fibrous strings around them that can get caught and tangled between your garbage disposal blades. Avoid putting these vegetables down the drain to prevent damage and clogging.

2. Bones

Never ever put bones of any kind down the garbage disposal. The blades are not strong enough to cut through chicken or fish bones, and certainly not bones any bigger than these. The bones will just spin around in the disposal while creating damage to your blades.

3. Egg Shells

Egg shells may seem benign, but they have a sticky lining that can get caught on the sides of the disposal or to the sides of your pipes.

4. Coffee Grounds

Coffee grounds might seem safe to pour down the drain, but they can cause buildup inside pipes and eventually create damage.

5. Stone Fruit Pits

Stone fruits like peaches, plums and cherries have hard pits that should never be put down the drain or through a garbage disposal.

6. Starchy Vegetable Peels

Vegetable peels from potatoes and sweet potatoes should not be put down the drain because they can create muck in your drain. The same rule applies to beans.

7. Grease

Never pour grease down your drain pipe. It will not only damage your garbage disposal but also clog your pipes.

8. Pasta and Rice

Carbs like pasta and rice have the ability to expand. Never pour uncooked pasta or rice down the drain. The same rule applies to cooked pasta and rice.

Having a problem with your garbage disposal? Call the pros at Sutton Brothers Heating, Cooling and Plumbing. We provide a variety of plumbing, heating and cooling services for customers in Kernersville, NC.