If your kitchen is like most modern kitchens, it has a garbage disposal in the sink to help hygienically remove food waste. Disposals make life in the kitchen much easier, and they also help keep food waste from going into landfills, instead sending it into the sewer system and sewage treatment plants.<\/p>\n
There are a number of common misunderstandings that people have about the way that garbage disposals work and how best to care for them. These misunderstandings can often lead to disposals breaking down. We\u2019ve listed below three of the more common ideas about garbage disposals that are false.<\/p>\n
A garbage disposal doesn\u2019t use sharp spinning blades to cut down food particles so they can go into the drainage system. What it does is grind<\/em> the food. A series of blunt impellers inside the hopper chamber hurl food waste against an outside rotating grind ring, where the food is then ground down. (But just because the disposal doesn\u2019t use sharp blades doesn\u2019t mean you should put your hand down in it. It\u2019s dangerous to reach into the disposal no matter what.)<\/p>\n The idea of using ice cubes to help a disposal do its job is based on the above misunderstanding: ice will help \u201csharpen the blades.\u201d But there aren\u2019t any blades in the disposal, and ice is hard enough to potentially damage the components.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the name garbage disposal<\/em> is responsible for this misunderstanding. The disposal is designed to handle organic food waste only, not actual paper, plastic, or other non-organic trash. The disposal also can\u2019t handle hard food waste, like animal bones or popcorn kernels. A good rule to follow is that if your teeth can\u2019t chew it, the disposal can \u201cchew\u201d it either.<\/p>\nPouring ice down the disposal will improve its performance<\/h3>\n
Garbage disposals can handle garbage<\/h3>\n