# What's the purpose of a garbage disposal unit? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 18, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256 "2015-03-18T02:39:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/1 "2015-03-18T02:39:27Z")
I was just reading [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=751886) thread and wondered what the purpose of a garbage disposal unit actually is. As I understand it, it grinds up organic food material and disposes of it through the plumbing system to the water treatment facility. We don’t have these in Canada. Why wouldn’t you just dispose of the stuff as garbage, or as most Canadian municipalities do now, stream it to a composting facility for use in gardens, etc? Why overburden the water treatment facility with something you can just throw away or recycle? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/2 "2015-03-18T02:58:11Z")
If you put it in the garbage it goes in the landfill, if you put it in the (Milwaukee) sewer system it becomes Milorginate, the stuff you fertilize your lawn with. In some areas of Milwaukee have a garbage disposal is code because it means less in waste in the landfill. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/3 "2015-03-18T03:16:27Z")
A GD is not meant to be used as a general garbage chute, although some people do put everything vaguely organic down them… vegetable trimmings, bones, large amounts of leftover food, etc. IMVHO, they are for the larger things scraped and rinsed off plates and cookware, to keep it from clogging the drain. Larger stuff goes in the garbage or (if you use them) compost bins. They were famously illegal in NYC until very recently, and may still be restricted. It was a status symbol to have one. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/4 "2015-03-18T03:20:06Z")
Just FTR, small bones (and fruit pits) are good for the garbage disposal, they keep it clean of debris that will eventually rot and make it smelly. Personally, about once a month I fill mine with ice and run that through it, it’s disgusting what flys back up the other sink. Cite, page 9 of [this manual](http://www.insinkerator.com/en-us/Documents/Disposer/Badger-Installation-Care-and-Use-Manual.pdf) (all ISE manuals say the same thing as far as I know) ---
**Author:** ![troubledwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/5 "2015-03-18T03:27:42Z")
Putting actual garbage in the garbage causes it to smell, resulting in the need to take it out more often. Separating out material for composting uses precious minutes. Many Americans would be bitterly resentful at being asked to do either of these things. I don’t know the history of the garbage disposal - I assume someone will be along shortly with that - but I am sure it was introduced as a labor-saving device. Having said that, they are not used everywhere in the U.S. There are very few in New York City (infrastructure not designed to support them). I assume people on septic tanks would be less likely to have them. Some cities (San Francisco comes to mind) are now mandating composting and building infrastructure to collect it. Some of us _like_ having a compost pile and have cleaned out too many clogged disposers and rarely use the ones we have. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/6 "2015-03-18T03:28:38Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I was just reading [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=751886) thread and wondered what the purpose of a garbage disposal unit actually is. One of the SDMB’s finest minds asked precisely this same [question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=611371) a few years ago. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Postariti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Postariti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Postariti)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/7 "2015-03-18T08:19:36Z")
Yeah, it’s for the little bits of stuff that sticks to plates and pans. Imagine burning stuff in a pan. You soak it, then as you scrape the stuff out you grind it up with the disposal. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/8 "2015-03-18T08:46:01Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > We don’t have these in Canada. We do, but they are rare. A high-school friend’s house had one. Never seen one anyplace else though. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/9 "2015-03-18T08:50:02Z")
My garbage disposal units are named Dora and Shaggy, they are very happy in their job. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/10 "2015-03-18T09:39:21Z")
They make pieces of food smaller so that they don’t build up in your pipes and clog them. I would never put big hard things down them, nor fibrous things like artichoke leaves. I doubt even compost-heavy areas require you to compost food waste that is not easily cleanable without a stead flow of water. What would do you do, filter everything through a sieve? SF etc. has them all over the place. And you don’t put actual garbage down there nor whole carcasses. They should be run fairly frequently, especially before you use the dishwasher. I have never had a problem with smell, nor build up. They get stuck if you put the aforementioned fibrous material or non-food objects like bottle caps in (accidentally, I hope!) but otherwise they work well. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/11 "2015-03-18T09:52:30Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > One of the SDMB’s finest minds asked precisely this same [question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=611371) a few years ago. > > 🆒 Wow. I had completely forgotten that. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/12 "2015-03-18T09:53:18Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > We do, but they are rare. It’s a side-benefit of gun control in Canada. Fewer bodies to dispose of. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/13 "2015-03-18T10:30:39Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I was just reading [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=751886) thread and wondered what the purpose of a garbage disposal unit actually is. > > We don’t have these in Canada. Sure we do. They are banned in the current City of Toronto, but my parent’s house in the former North York had one, as does my sister’s house and my brother’s in Vaughan. [Here](http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/search-results.html?searchByTerm=true&q=garbage+disposal&=) is a link to garbage disposals sold at that most Canadian institution, Canadian Tire. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/14 "2015-03-18T12:25:32Z")
Why not just scrape the food into the garbage, where it belongs? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/15 "2015-03-18T13:15:40Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Why not just scrape the food into the garbage, where it belongs? As has been said a lot…the smell. I refuse to ever live anywhere that doesn’t have a disposal. My girlfriends house in college didn’t and you could not escape that smell no matter where you were on the ground floor ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/16 "2015-03-18T14:07:15Z")
They were not uncommon in Oakvillle in the sixties, when paper bags were used to hold garbage, first in the small kitchen can, and then carried out and placed in large garbage cans outside. Paper bags work well enough for dry garbage, but poorly for wet garbage. Table scraps are wet, so when placed in paper bags, they soak the paper, which eventually tears. By greatly reducing the amount of wet garbage in paper bags, garbage disposals reduced the frequency of trips outside to the large garbage cans, which in winter were a bit of an embuggerance. By greatly reducing the amount of wet garbage, garbage disposals reduced the volume of rotting garbage in the large garbage cans outside, which made for less smelly summers, particularly when garbage pick-up was weekly. Today, garbage, be it wet or dry, is easily contained in plastic bags – small ones inside the kitchen, and large ones outside. The plastic bags are durable enough to hold wet garbage, and can be tied off to stop the stench. Either way, there are environmental downsides, for in Ontario our waste treatment centres are not what they could be, and plastic garbage bags are not renewable are not recycled. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/17 "2015-03-18T14:35:37Z")
biodegradable stuff is not wanted in landfills. on site food scrap composting is desirable but it needs to be done well to work and animal matter will attract rodents. in a big city i noticed (in an area with houses and trees) that every (OK i can’t say i took an actual survey but no less than 80%) garbage can (plastic roller cart for mechanical pickup) had a squirrel hole chewed in a top corner. the coons would just open them. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/18 "2015-03-18T15:02:27Z")
The ban in Toronto is because the load on the sewage treatment system is too high and in the old city (pre-amalgamation) we have combined storm and sewage systems. Now that we have green bin organic waste collection I personally would have no use for a garbage disposal. ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/19 "2015-03-18T16:04:41Z")
Most of the houses in my last neighbourhood in Calgary had one, they were a popular feature in the 90’s. Newer construction no longer includes them because of the burden the ground up waste places on the water treatment plants, although you can purchase one at Canadian Tire and install it yourself. I’m not really a fan, instead we have a compost bin and put most of the same stuff that would go down the drain into that. Bits of food from rinsing plates does end up clogging up the drain eventually, a dose of Draino a couple of times a year keeps things flowing. Different municipalities have different rules depending on their waste treatment and landfill capacity. It’s a balance, since organic waste isn’t desirable in either and garburators use extra water. Here’s a quote I found from the City of Calgary: > [@](#): > > Wolf Keller, director of water resources for the City of Calgary, says garburator waste is treated along with other solid waste. > > All “bio-solids” are reprocessed into fertilizer and soil conditioner, and provided for free to farmers within 50 kilometres of the city. > > "Farmers say one application provides enough fertilizer for two years,"Keller says. > > Although the city certainly doesn’t want every household installing a garburator, Keller says for those who already have one, using the device is better than sending organic waste to the landfill. > > Of course, the situation varies from city to city, depending on water supplies and treatment facilities. More info at the [link](http://www.househunting.ca/eco/story.html?id=73a7c8a6-e939-4792-8fef-4e9abdd3d57e). ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256/20 "2015-03-18T16:15:43Z")
It’s easier to peel vegetables over the sink than it is to peel them over a garbage can. Then it’s easier to put the peelings down the garbage disposal than it is to fish them out of the sink. With a garbage disposal, you can get stuff to go down it without having to touch it, by running water on it. It’s not good to put stuff that is largely liquid in the trash. It makes the trash heavier (this is a problem when you have to take it out) and can make it pretty gross. Scraping food into the garbage can is more difficult if you have to soak it first, as you might have to do for food that has cooked onto pots or pans. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-a-garbage-disposal-unit/715256.md?page=2)