Garbage disposal vs. food waste bin?

Joenali · July 2010

I was talking to my friend who insists that she just throw the leftovers down the garbage disposal instead of throwing it in the food waste bin. In our area our food waste can be mixed with yard waste and is taken to a composting site. She thinks it'ts too difficult to throw leftovers in a 3 gallon bin under the sink and then throw it in the yard waste bin once a week. So two questions, where does the food go when it's tossed intothe GD? and Which is better food waste bin (for compost) or GD?

musgral8 · July 2010

Really the answer to that depends on what kind of water treatment plant is handling the water. I have had to tour quite a few water treatment plants, and ones that handle drinking water *hate hate hate* garbage disposals. They have to actively monitor the pH of water coming in to the site so that it doesn't throw off the water that has been moved on to different stages of processing. If you are processing a lot of highly acidic food, it's not good to put it down the disposal, because they have to add more chemicals in the long run to neutralize it. If the water is going back in to a river or something, they use a settling treatment method where they just move the water from settling tank to settling tank and let different microbes do the purifying and they settle the sludge off (which is essentially it's own form of composting).

elviebird · July 2010

Another problem is that food will get caught in the sewer line before it even makes it to the water treatment plant. In most cities, grease is a huge issue because it hardens when it cools, forming a blockage that then catches other foods/solids. This will eventually back up the sewer, whether that be in the street or in your house. BIG environmental no-no. Composting is definitely the way to go.

kes3237 · July 2010

GD is the worst option. Regular trash is better than GD.

Alisha_A · July 2010

Oh boo!! I'm single and it is a bit of a pain. I don't use the provided bin because its too large. If I'm cooking or cutting up a watermelon or something like that, I just take all the scraps in a bowl out immediately, otherwise, I keep paper bags (like from the liquor store or bread) in the fridge, set in a bowl, for the little daily scraps, and take that out every few days.

litt1er4 · July 2010

As someone who works at a water utility company that manages both wastewater & drinking water treatment and waterways restoration

I would say if you can compost although I understand many homeowners are not able to do this due to space, pest, & smell

whatever food waste cannot be composted should then be placed in the garbage disposal (gp), unless your gp is not working properly, most food will be crush up enough to easily go through your pipes (I'm sure a plumber will correct me)

& yes oil & grease should not be placed in the gp as it can create problems later in the sewer system

Ms.Jade · July 2010

Wastewater is really the problem here. Using a garbage disposal uses a lot of water and creates more wastewater. Check out this article.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-07-11/home-and-garden/17251791_1_compost-food-scraps-garbage

Garbage disposal vs. food waste bin?

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