# What is a "garbage disposal unit"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-garbage-disposal-unit/278115>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 4, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-garbage-disposal-unit/278115 "2004-12-04T22:20:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-garbage-disposal-unit/278115/61 "2004-12-08T03:23:46Z")

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As for the logic, I once asked my-mother-the-nurse about this (prompted by an Aussie’s perplexed attitude about them!). She said that the idea was to avoid having the dump become the food pantry for a city conquering army of rats.

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