6 Items You Should Never Put in the Garbage Disposal

A few episodes back, I talked about 8 items you should never put in a dishwasher. The other day I got to thinking about our garbage disposal and mistakes we’ve made with it over the years. There are definitely items that should never be put in a garbage disposal. I haven’t heard many people talk about this, which means they are likely learning these lessons the hard way. Putting these items in a garbage disposal can cause dull blades, clogged drains, or even completely breaking the disposal for good.

Help keep your garbage disposal running well by never putting any of the following items down a garbage disposal.

See Also: 10 Tips That Will Change How You Clean Your Kitchen

1.) Non-food items

First and foremost, no non-food items should ever be put in a garbage disposal. It may be obvious that metal items like silverware should not go in the garbage disposal. If it’s not obvious, as soon as you have a spoon end up in the running blades, you’ll know that it’s not right. The garbage disposal is not a trash, and even things like plastic and paper can damage the blades. Any items that are not food should always go straight in to the trash.

2.) Grease and oils

The second item that shouldn’t go in the garbage disposal is grease. Animal fats, oils, and grease can coat the blades and cause them to become less effective. Grease can also accumulate in both the garbage disposal and the sink drains, which can lead to some nasty clogs. If you haven’t picked up on this one yet, putting grease and fats down the garbage disposal will eventually lead to a call to your friendly neighborhood plumber.

3.) Starchy foods

The next item on the list is one that I learned the hard way. We love to host Thanksgiving dinner, and one year I decided to toss my potato peels in to the garbage disposal. While it seemed that things were OK for a while, when we turned on the dishwasher to run before all our company arrived, we realized that the starchy peels had formed a thick paste and clogged the garbage disposal. Since the dishwasher drains through the same pipes, we ended up flooding our kitchen right as the first guests were arriving. It was an absolute disaster, and thankfully our friends were there to help catch the dirty water and my husband was handy enough to open the pipes and remove the clog.

Don’t make my mistake and never, ever put starchy items like potatoes, rice,...

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