When I was growing up, these seemed to be ubiquitous and I never liked them. They seemed overcomplicated for the purpose, and created a gross and smelly area under the sink that needed more cleaning.
I haven’t had one in years, as a simple sink mesh does the same job. But I don’t really know how other people are. Are under sink garbage disposals still common, and commonly actually used by people here?
They seem more common now if anything
I’m not sure what extra cleaning you’re talking about but if you use them once in a while they don’t stink
We have one, I like it. Never gross smelling, keeps the drains clear, seems to help the dishwasher run better.
They were never a thing in Europe.
The sewage treatment is not built to handle that kind of stuff. The sewage pipes aren’t too happy about it, either. I might flush some carbs down the toilet. The poop-munching bacteria at the treatment plant get a nice growth boost from it. Grease not only clogs your own pipes, but causes issues for the whole city. I think it’s possible to get fined for it if you’d get caught starting a year or two back.
Food waste goes in the trash or compost. If it goes in the trash it’s burned at industrial temperatures to burn clean. The heat is used for district heating networks.
Yeah, grease and oil kills plumbing
They shouldn’t make a gross smelly area under your sink. It sounds like yours was leaking.
Or had a backflow issue
I went out of my way to get one installed in a house that didn’t have one. So, yeah.
If yours is making a mess under the sink, it’s either broken or installed wrong.
I use mine all the time, much easier than dealing with a nasty sink strainer as I just spray down the sink into the disposal and run it. Also keeps the trash from smelling.
If it’s being smelly under the sink, it’s broken or not installed right. If it’s being smelly from the drain hole sink side then you’re not cleaning it from time to time (Which is as easy as dropping in some cleaner and running it every other month or so).
I’m actually looking to upgrade mine so it can handle some bones
A cup full of ice cubes once a week keeps mine clean
The upgrade is so worth it. I got a 1hp one when I needed to replace the old one. I could probably send a whole rotisserie chicken down that thing without issue (other than destroying my plumbing anyways). I don’t deliberately send bones down it but it has happened and they don’t even slow it down.
I had one once, here in Australia, in a house my family lived in for a few years. It was novelty as I’d never seen one before or since.I seem to recall thinking it was very useful but for some reason, even though there’s really no chance of it happening, I always had like intrusive thoughts of sticking my fingers in there. Also my grandpa stayed with us for a little while and he kept throwing nectarine cores in there which it really couldn’t handle even though we asked him not to. It also used to make a deafening noise like the awakening of Cthulhu at rhe best of times, hearing it sound like it was about to spectacularly break was really distressing. I don’t know how legal it was to have that thing, they just don’t seem to exist here in Australia so it was very odd that this place had it.
I’ve never not had one, do you scoop all your food waste out of the sink with your hands? Cleaning is as easy as dropping a lemon peel in once in a while or a tray of ice.
Big stuff straight into the trash. Little stuff into the sink strainer. It all settles to the middle of the strainer. Pick up the strainer and dump it into the trash.
Does the debris ever clog the strainer? Sometimes the disposal gets clogged and holds filthy water in the sink, and I just run the disposal and it clears it all out. Otherwise you’d have to reach in and grab the strainer out and that’s… Ew.
Didn’t grow up with one, but consider it standard now. There should be an organic stream to waste disposal. Much more green to send your plate scrapings to the treatment plant than to wrap them up in plastic and bury it in a landfill.
I found a solid metal strainer, not mesh for my sink. Holds up forever and much easier to clean. Even if you have a disposal, its not great to just dump everything down the drain [citation needed]. You especially want to catch things like small bones and forks.
The disposals seem common enough, a lot older/outdated homes don’t have them. I have no idea what they’re putting into new houses and renovations.
Never had an under the sink mess like you describe, maybe yours just had a small leak?
ive never lived in a house or apt without one. they seem ubiquitous to me. seems weird there wouldnt be one.
Most garbage disposals just cause more trouble that they’re worth since they turn small chunks of food into paste and that’s more likely to stick to the insides of drains and cause more clogs than the small chunks, as long as your drains are properly maintained. And a halfway decent strainer will keep out the larger pieces. It’s also not good for your city drains and makes sewage processing more expensive. Better to use composting for your food scraps if you can.
I compost (and save stuff for broth) and we have a sink disposal. It’s for the little bits of cooked food left on plates, are you composting those? The sink that has one is the least cloggy kitchen sink I’ve ever had, and as far as I understand they are pretty neutral in terms of waste stream.
Grease I agree shouldn’t go in there, that goes in the trash.
I worked in apartment maintenance for a bit. That is a requirement for low income housing, at least in California. If it doesn’t have one or it stops working for any reason, the tenant can claim unlivable living conditions and not pay rent until it’s fixed. This is true for many types of problems but you asked about garbage disposals. Also the property could potentially lose the designation of low income housing which means losing the federal/state subsidy. Most tenants don’t know about this and choose to move out instead after a few rent increases. On the other hand there is a list of “problem tenants” that landlords share and if you end up on it then good luck finding a new place to rent.
As a Canadian, the idea of a garbage disposal in a sink has always been insane to me. It can be hard to believe that Americans just grind up stuff and send it down their sink drain.
What’s insane about it? You eat food and your waste goes to the sewer. The garbage disposal does the same just without it passing through you. Also they’re only really used for scraps (egg shells, vegetable peels/trimmings, bits from rinsing dishes, etc) it isn’t like you’re dumping a whole plate of spaghetti down your sink. If you don’t have room for composting then the only alternative is throwing that stuff in the trash.
My condo has one. I use it.
