# What is "ok" to put through a sink disposal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542 "2025-11-03T21:01:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/41 "2025-11-04T02:06:23Z")
not only disposals–when I lived in bottom unit, grease also tends to clog unless you run hot water with it or you resort to clog cleaner. I’ve had sinks overflow from upper unit poring grease. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/42 "2025-11-04T02:09:07Z")
according to Whack a Mole, peels were forboden ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/43 "2025-11-04T02:19:41Z")
This is what my building slipped under my door: [![](https://i.imgur.com/vpLOeEO.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/vpLOeEO.jpeg) Personally, I don’t do any of that. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/44 "2025-11-04T02:46:00Z")
I was replying to echo ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/45 "2025-11-04T03:40:30Z")
Peels here are like carrot or potato. Citrus rinds are ok I think. I’ll throw in a lemon or lime rind on occasion because it smells nice. I am way on the conservative side and don’t put much in the disposal. My mom puts nearly everything down hers (not stuff on that list though) and has for decades and has been fortunate not to have had any problems. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/46 "2025-11-04T03:50:17Z")
I’ve never had a garbage disposal, so I always just assumed you could put any kind of food garbage through it. Since that clearly isn’t the case, what exactly is the purpose of even having it? Seems like way more trouble than not, and dangerous too. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/47 "2025-11-04T04:48:20Z")
I can tell you from personal experience that raw shrimp shells don’t go through easily. They mostly went through the disposal, but didn’t make it too far down the pipe. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/48 "2025-11-04T06:27:35Z")
I actually have a disposal myself; it doesn’t work, and I would rarely use it anyway. The issue with eggshells is not so much the shells themselves as the membrane that surrounds the inner shell. Those things are surprisingly strong and may not chop up easily. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/49 "2025-11-04T07:25:48Z")
> [@Manlob](#): > > It is commonly recommended to not rinse plates before putting into dishwasher. Just scrape off the large solids. Note that your dishwasher has a filter (usually 3 filter layers) that needs cleaning preferably monthly. An alarming number of people also don’t realize that. Gross job but necessary for the life of your dishwasher and the cleanliness of your dishes. Lots of people don’t realize that. I do a light scraping but certain things even tiny like rice grains go down the sink, I avoid putting those in the dishwasher for sure, they get gummy. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/50 "2025-11-04T12:41:51Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > (for the most part what we take out is put back after being cleaned). Is that true? I don’t believe so. I THINK much of it ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. (I’m also regularly curious of efforts to expand the area receiving Lake Michigan water well beyond the watershed, but that would definitely be a hijack. As many folk upthread, I question the actual purpose/utility of garbage disposals. It seems easier/better to simply dispose of waste in the kitchen garbage can. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/51 "2025-11-04T12:50:34Z")
Our drinking fountain at work was draining very slowly. The plumber came and showed me the p trap that he had just removed. It was almost completely clogged with coffee grounds from people dumping out the end of their coffee in the fountain. Granted, this took 20+ years and the grinds hadn’t be “re-ground” (as in a disposal) but I saw what they can do. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/52 "2025-11-04T12:53:22Z")
I put that one in at our house. It could easily grind up a Cybertruck. But I habitually pick up and throw into the garbage … basically anything that I _can_ pick up and throw into the garbage. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/53 "2025-11-04T12:57:26Z")
When the hot water/grease cools it will separate and coagulate. The clog might just be further down the line and larger diameter pipes. Its messy but I never pour grease down the drain. It goes into a jar and hardens, When the jar is full, out with the other trash it goes. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/54 "2025-11-04T12:59:44Z")
After my father passed, the kitchen sink at my mother’s house began to drain very, very slowly. I made time for a visit and took along a few tools. When I removed the trap under the sink, I found it was almost entirely filled with sand. Wait a minute…sand? They don’t live near a beach. In fact, it was a combination of ground glass and bone fragments. My father had read in some “household hints” column that you could break a glass and put it down the disposal to clean the blade mechanism. They had done this once or twice a year for a long time. What was caught in the trap was probably only a fraction of what had gone on to settle in the remainder of the sewer line to the water treatment plant. Over my mother’s complaints, I removed the disposal and replaced it with a straight pipe. I used the circuit for some small lights inside the sink cabinet and an additional outlet. I see no benefit in wasting electricity to deliberately put materials in the sewer system that damage the system and require additional work to remove again at the treatment plant. That’s just crazy. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/55 "2025-11-04T13:00:17Z")
I put everything down the disposal. And i have for most of my life, and i just plan to replace the disposal every 10 years or so. I think that, but then i look at this list > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > [![](https://i.imgur.com/vpLOeEO.jpeg)](https://i.imgur.com/vpLOeEO.jpeg) And i avoid all those things. Well, i used to put eggshells through, carefully, one at a time, until my husband got into composting. Now they go in the compost bin. But a single eggshell works fine. And i do put rice down, with lots of water. I’ve always dumped coffee grounds in the trash (now compost), and i keep a fat can in the fridge for any fat that’s easy to pour or scrape off, and use lots of detergent with any residual fat (like when I’m cleaning the roasting pan.) and large bones? Hunks of dough? Yeah, those go in the trash. So what’s a disposal good for? The scraps of little chicken bones left in the pot after straining out most of them when making soup. The scraps of vegetables left in the sink after pulling out most peels to go in a freezer bag for future soup. The residue of catfood left in the can that you want to rinse off before putting it in the recycling bin. Basically, all those gross bits that you need to fish out of the strainer on a kitchen sink without a disposal. You never have to fish around in an icky strainer and handle gross bits of not-quite-food, you just rinse them down the sink and grind them up into a slurry that will make it to the sewage plant. I love having a disposal. I hated it when i didn’t have one. > [@hajario](#): > > Citrus rinds are ok I think. I’ll throw in a lemon or lime rind on occasion because it smells nice. Citrus rinds are great! They do a nice job of cleaning the disposal blades. I cut them into smallish pieces, first. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/56 "2025-11-04T13:12:32Z")
In sink garbage disposals are prohibited in Toronto. Weekly pickup of compostable food waste makes it easier to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/57 "2025-11-04T13:30:04Z")
Garbage disposals put plumber’s kids through college. One of the worst things foisted on the unsuspecting public. I had building maintenance remove ours and bought one of [these](https://www.amazon.com/MR-SIGA-Kitchen-Strainer-Stainless-Dishwasher/dp/B08L55H8B2/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=1S5V6VH5NRF10&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zXYvdqvP8-8Kb6jFGor0eJviOwbApHpLRhHSLoGwjMvhxFZh30rSuhIEUfNNG6gTy3Hbh9eYkenBhVgglEzCBpNVF0bbRpq5XvP4HYKNFtXi-s2V05KIN2ArvOQE2mtQ0QboCm3XAsfH-Ag5pnu0kckW6KJTJ21TdhY3C3QqTqebXhe_It64f3wJMQFb49x58Nh1lGVyy45IWUEB49CAwvEkvOZOg3ZBYj1vzTLizs7xIvr2HGMQkN-dPvq0vVfF3Kidvll3CQeeFzR28jM15tVFh2SKiTQfU06TR45_lBU.IJ7uod1O5za64E5OAyftRubrhVRjeu5Dm9vojJyQ_a4&dib_tag=se&keywords=sink+drain+strainer&qid=1762262919&sprefix=sink+%252Caps%252C207&sr=8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1). I’m also diligent about wiping all grease from pans before they get washed. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/58 "2025-11-04T13:37:03Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Note that your dishwasher has a filter (usually 3 filter layers) that needs cleaning preferably monthly. An alarming number of people also don’t realize that. Gross job but necessary for the life of your dishwasher and the cleanliness of your dishes. Lots of people don’t realize that. My fancy new dishwasher reminds me to check the filter periodically. In two years it’s been completely clean every time. I never rinse the dishes first. I scrape them into the garbage. I’ll still keep checking. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/59 "2025-11-04T13:49:18Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Basically, all those gross bits that you need to fish out of the strainer on a kitchen sink without a disposal. You never have to fish around in an icky strainer and handle gross bits of not-quite-food, I guess I developed a lifelong habit of pulling out the strainer and knocking it against the side of the garbage can - which pretty much dislodged any detritus. And I guess I never minded washing my hands after if I ended up handling anything disgusting. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I love having a disposal. I hated it when i didn’t have one. I don’t think I ever had a disposal until I was at least 30-35. Hard to hate what you never had. (Or never really perceived a need for.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542/60 "2025-11-04T14:06:43Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > > > Note that your dishwasher has a filter (usually 3 filter layers) that needs cleaning preferably monthly. An alarming number of people also don’t realize that. Gross job but necessary for the life of your dishwasher and the cleanliness of your dishes. Lots of people don’t realize that. > > My fancy new dishwasher reminds me to check the filter periodically. In two years it’s been completely clean every time. I never rinse the dishes first. I scrape them into the garbage. I’ll still keep checking. Interesting. Mine is always gross and disgusting, speaking of gross stuff in the kitchen. I should do that this morning. I used to make my husband do it, because he has little sense of smell. But he has less time and energy because if his cancer, so I’ve been picking up a lot of those odd jobs around the house. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-ok-to-put-through-a-sink-disposal/1024542.md?page=4)