Garbage disposals often get a bad rap. Some people think we shouldn’t use them at all.
There’s no doubt that the in-sink grinders can be convenient, time-saving helpers, and many of us would find it tough to get along without them. But they can be sensitive. Many kinds of scraps can go into them just fine, but you need to be careful about others.
Here are some items that should never be ground up in a disposal.
1. Bones
This one seems obvious. Think of the blades in your disposal as resembling those in your blender: Would you throw a chicken carcass in your blender and expect it to be chopped up with no problem?
If your city picks up food and yard waste, put the bones in that container.
2. Grease and oil
Frying potatoes, doughnuts or bacon? Don’t dump the leftover grease down the drain, whether or not there is a disposal in it. It will solidify and can make a mess out of your drain and pipes.
If you’re not going to save the oil to reuse, let it cool and pour it into a container you’re getting rid of anyway. Then put it in your trash.
3. Avocado and fruit pits
Avocado pits are sort of the rocks of the kitchen-scrap world. The blades of your disposal will do next to nothing to break up these solid pits. Instead, toss the pits in with your compost or yard waste.
4. Potato and carrot peels
Potato peels are not as tough or fibrous as many vegetables’ outer coatings, but they still can clog your disposal. Even when cut up, peels contain so much starch they can create a sort of paste that clogs the pipes. You say po-tay-to; I say, don’t grind that.
5. Corn husks
You really shouldn’t put corn husks down your disposal. The husks are fibrous and tough, and those fibrous threads can wind around the disposal’s blades and tangle and jam the motor. It could make for an a-maizing mess. Compost them, or toss them into your food-waste bin.
6. Onion skins
Treat onion skins much like you would corn husks. They appear papery and thin — but, like their corny brethren, onion skins can get caught in a disposal’s blades and stop them from spinning. Composting them is a much more a-peeling option.
7. Lettuce
Lettuce is a wonderfully healthful vegetable, but not so healthful for your garbage disposal. Not only can lettuce leaves be tough to chop, but when you try to wash them down with water, they can create a gooey, green slime that looks like something out of an “Alien” movie.
“Lettuce” vow to compost lettuce scraps in the future.
8. Banana peels
Don’t monkey around: Banana peels don’t belong down a disposal. Some experts say that if you cut the peel up into small pieces, the blades can handle it. But the same fibrous toughness that protects the soft banana fruit can play havoc with your disposal.
Instead, throw the peels on the floor and wait until a clown walks by to dramatically slip on it. No? OK, fine, just throw it in the compost bin or trash.
9. Pasta
Cooked pasta and rice are delicious, but the leftovers can create a disposal dilemma. The whirring blades can mash these products into a starchy paste that will clog the drain and pipes. Dump any leftover pasta into your food-waste bin — or better yet, save it for a second-day snack.
10. Gum
If you’re stuck on Bubble Yum or Bazooka, by gum, go for it. But never, ever, throw the sticky stuff anywhere near your disposal.
The reasons are self-evident: Sticky gum will clog up the blades as surely as if you’d squirted glue down the sink. Wad up your chewed gum inside a small piece of paper and toss it in the trash.
11. Marshmallows
Marshmallows may seem like an odd item to put on this list — it’s not as if your average person is pitching them into a disposal, and it’s not the kind of snack that has leftovers.
But maybe your marshmallows were a gooey topping from Grandma’s Thanksgiving sweet potatoes, or some other delightfully sweet and sticky recipe. Keep mallows out of the disposal to keep your plumbing mellow.
12. Coffee grounds
What could possibly be wrong with putting coffee grounds down your garbage disposal? They’re small, smell good and seem harmless.
But they clump together, don’t break up and can create a caffeinated clog. Instead, spread them around plants in your garden to repel insects and stimulate plant growth.
13. Eggshells
Eggshells might be the most controversial item on this list. Opinions on whether they belong in the disposal are rather scrambled.
Some say the shells actually work almost like a scouring powder, breaking into tiny bits and helping clean gunk off the disposal’s blades. But others say they can become compacted, either clogging the drain entirely or sticking to the walls of the pipe, slowing its draining.
After eggs-amining the evidence, it would seem wise to keep them out entirely.
14. Paint
You’d never pour paint down your drain, toilet or your disposal, right? It might color your world, but it’s not healthy for your pipes and it’s bad for the environment.
Sure, some natural paints may say pipes can handle it. But the fact is, it’s just not that hard to let any excess paint dry out and then check your neighborhood waste guidelines for proper disposal. Some companies will accept leftover paint if you’ve poured sand or kitty litter into the can to turn it into a solid.
While you’re thinking about it, check out: “How to Get Rid of 6 Hard-to-Sell Things.”
15. Bread dough
Even those of us who love baking sometimes find ourselves with dough to dispose of. Don’t throw it down the disposal — bread dough is sticky and thick, and it’ll form a kind of sludgy paste and clog up the works.
If there’s not much, scrape the extra dough into your compost bin.
16. Celery
Celery is crisp and delicious, and it’s a dieter’s staple. But one place it doesn’t belong is down the disposal. Those stringy, twisty threads that peel off celery when you’re snacking on it are like evil little octopus tentacles that can’t wait to wind their way around your disposal’s blades.
17. Pumpkin stems
Halloween is a wonderful holiday, and it can be terrifically fun to carve a pumpkin into a jack-o’-lantern. But don’t ever toss the pumpkin stems (or other parts you carve out — like those classic triangle eyes or the innards of stringy pulp and seeds) down your drain. These all are thick and will fight your disposal blades to the death — and they’ll win.
The resulting repair bill will be spookier than any of the little monsters out trick-or-treating.
18. Seafood shells
You’d never put oyster, clam, lobster and crab shells down your disposal, right? One rule to keep in mind: If your teeth can’t crunch it up, don’t expect your disposal to do so. And there’s nothing fishy about that advice.
19. Nonfood items
Here’s a “goes-without-saying” tip: Never intentionally put nonfood items — such as silverware or twist-ties or rubber bands — down the disposal. Sure, they might slip into the sink when you’re rinsing off a plate — if so, hit the off switch fast as you can. Better to keep an eye on them so they don’t find their way into a running disposal.
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