# Did you know that coffee grounds don't go down the disposer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843 "2007-04-19T20:39:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/1 "2007-04-19T20:39:34Z")
I didn’t. Sigh. Just when I was so happy about figuring out how to clean my French Press. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/2 "2007-04-19T20:42:04Z")
Interesting. I always put mind down the garbage disposal. I’ve been doing it for well, 12½ yrs in this house alone. Who told you they don’t go down? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/3 "2007-04-19T20:46:11Z")
The landlord, after they completely blocked the drain pipe and the downstairs kitchen was flooded. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/4 "2007-04-19T20:59:59Z")
I never have had that problem either. How odd! ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/5 "2007-04-19T21:04:47Z")
Well then the question remains, How do you clean a French Press? ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/6 "2007-04-19T21:05:57Z")
When the plumber came to my house to snake out the sewer, he had ust completed a job (that took much longer than expected) cleaning out coffee grounds from the pipes of a local office building. They are not plumbing-friendly, especially if you don’t run a LOT of water down with them. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/7 "2007-04-19T21:13:51Z")
I will stop doing that from now on. I learned something new today! Does this mean I can go home now? ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/8 "2007-04-19T21:20:06Z")
Hm. They’ve been going down my disposer every day for, I guess, six years since I renovated the kitchen? Maybe I should stop. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/9 "2007-04-19T21:48:47Z")
Another vote for doing it for some time without issue. And our upstairs kitchen people used to do it without a disposal for a while before I put one in last year. The thinking being, how much finer would the disposal make the grounds, anyway? Just use plenty of water to wash 'em down. ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/10 "2007-04-19T21:53:39Z")
Yes I did. Also eggshells don’t go down the disposal. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/11 "2007-04-19T21:59:10Z")
Geez, what ARE we supposed to put down the disposal then? ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/12 "2007-04-19T22:05:36Z")
I’ve been putting coffee grounds and eggshells down the disposal for as long as we’ve had one of the things. I guess I’ll stop. Maybe the grounds will make the kitchen smell pleasantly of coffee–in my house we drink a not-insignificant amount of it. What about when there are leftover bits of (boneless) meat from dinner? Can those go own the disposal? I’m going to be sorry I asked, aren’t I? ---
**Author:** ![VenusProbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e495f1/32.png) [@VenusProbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VenusProbe)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/13 "2007-04-19T22:22:58Z")
Coffee grounds should be put in the garden, mine go directly from the basket to the flowerbed under the kitchen window. 🙂 Don’t know what I’d do in an apartment! ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/14 "2007-04-19T22:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=VenusProbe] Coffee grounds should be put in the garden, mine go directly from the basket to the flowerbed under the kitchen window. 🙂 Don’t know what I’d do in an apartment! [/QUOTE] Hmmm. I could do that. I have a garden bed that could use enriching. Really though, I’m just glad that I can serve as a warning to others :rolleyes: . The downstairs isn’t occupied, and the landlord thinks my kitchen wastewater has been backing up there for several days at least. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/15 "2007-04-19T22:56:18Z")
[QUOTE=pendgwen] Yes I did. Also eggshells don’t go down the disposal. [/QUOTE] Or potato peelings. The holy trinity of disposal cloggers: grounds, shells, and peels. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/16 "2007-04-19T23:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Or potato peelings. The holy trinity of disposal cloggers: grounds, shells, and peels. [/QUOTE] Right. So back to the earlier question. What _is_ it okay to grind? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/17 "2007-04-19T23:10:31Z")
All that stuff is fine to go down the disposal, normally. Your landlord’s pipes have a bunch of buildup or something. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/18 "2007-04-19T23:10:34Z")
[QUOTE=VenusProbe] Coffee grounds should be put in the garden, mine go directly from the basket to the flowerbed under the kitchen window. 🙂 Don’t know what I’d do in an apartment! [/QUOTE] Same here. Every morning it’s the same ritual for me. Get up, stagger into the kitchen, pour a little water into the press, swirl it around, take it outside and dump it somewhere in the garden, come back and make a fresh carafe. My plants have gotten a lot of coffee grounds over the years. Not sure what I’d do in an above ground apartment. Probably switch back to an electric coffee maker with paper filters. I suppose if you bought one of those wire mesh filter replacements for an electric coffee maker, you could dump the grounds from your french press through that each day to strain out the water, then dump the grounds in the regular trash. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/19 "2007-04-19T23:33:04Z")
[QUOTE=Sattua] Right. So back to the earlier question. What _is_ it okay to grind? [/QUOTE] Not things that are stringy or fibrous that can get caught around the mechanism and burn the motor out, not things that can create a starchy glue like large quantities of potato peels, and not things that can easily form solid clogs in the pipes, like coffee grounds and egg shells. Actually, it’s mostly a function of the amout of stuff you put down at once (with the exception of whole stringy veggies, like full stalks of celery). You can put down _some_ eggshells, _some_ potato peels, and _some_ coffee grounds; you’re just not supposed to dump a bunch down at once. Oh, and you’re not supposed to put egg shells down at all if you have a septic system because the enyzmes in the tank don’t dissolve the shells. What can go down? Anything other than the above, and even the above so long as you don’t try to stuff the whole quantity down at once. ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843/20 "2007-04-20T00:15:10Z")
Do not put onion skins down your garbage disposal no matter how much water you use. Onion skins will block the drain pipe, causing a backup that will then be blamed on egg shells, coffee grounds, etc. I have spent over a year pounding this concept into mr.stretch’s head. Do not put stalks of celery down the disposal because they will wrap around everything and burn your disposal out. When using the disposal for most anything else, including bones and corn cobs, use lots of water. People with septic systems are generally encouraged to not use a disposal at all. Disposals are also not the “green” choice for getting rid of your kitchen waste because it then has to be strained out at the end point. That adds to our increasing bio-solids problem. Instead, compost your vegie matter (including coffee grounds) and throw out meat and fat-laden scraps (how much butter did you throw on that brocolli?). Compost your eggshells, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-coffee-grounds-dont-go-down-the-disposer/400843.md?page=2)