Crafts & DIY
Be Careful What You Put Down The Garbage Disposal - Here Are 13 Items That Shouldn't Go Down It
This is so good to know!
D.G. Sciortino
11.07.17

Our garbage disposals prevent us from having to scoop out and scrape off yucky food scraps from our plates, pots, and pans. But there are some things you should never ever put down your garbage disposal.

Here’s what they are:

Potato Peels

Potatoes can turn into a starchy soupy mess that will clog your garbage disposal. So you’ll want to keep potatoes and their peels out.

The Health Site
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The Health Site

Bones

Bones will never fully chop up in your garbage disposal, the blades will just keep spinning around. If they make it down the drain the probably won’t make it down the pipes and cause blockages in your plumbing system.

YouTube Screenshot
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YouTube Screenshot

Pasta

Pasta can expand when it is exposed to water. So you’ll want to keep this out of your garbage disposal so that it doesn’t fill up your trap and clog things up.

Fit It All Plumbing
Source:
Fit It All Plumbing

Celery

Celery has fibrous strings that can get tangled up around your garbage disposal’s blades and can damage your garbage disposal.

Renaissance Rentals
Source:
Renaissance Rentals

Grease

Grease and oil thickens and will clog up your drain and pipes. You’ll have to take everything apart to fix that and it won’t be a fun job.

Ask HR Green
Source:
Ask HR Green

Beans

Beans are very starchy and will just end up as a sticky mush in your in the drain and can clog things up.

Shockingly Delicious
Source:
Shockingly Delicious

Coffee Grounds

This may seem like a good idea, but it’s really not. Coffee grounds can pile up and turn into a sludge that will serve as sediment in your drain and pipes.

Flickr/Ryan Burke
Source:
Flickr/Ryan Burke

Fruit Pits

You can seriously damage your garbage disposal blades by trying to chop up fruit or avocado seeds.

Better Homes and Garden
Source:
Better Homes and Garden

Asparagus

Asparagus is another stringy vegetable that can get wrapped around your garbage disposal blades and cause damage.

Mike's Plumbing
Source:
Mike's Plumbing

Egg Shells

The membrane lining of eggshells can stick to the sides of your garbage disposal and can wreck your garbage disposal blades.

Homeowner FAQs
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Homeowner FAQs

Corn Husks

Corn husks can also get tangled around your disposal blades and other mechanisms in your garbage disposal. You’ll want to keep these out of your garbage disposal to prevent costly repairs.

Service Hero Plumbing
Source:
Service Hero Plumbing

Rice

Rice is so tiny it will be hard to chop up so it will likely end up as a starchy dense mush that will just clog up your system.

Epicurious
Source:
Epicurious

Shells

Windelandia
Source:
Windelandia

Shells from oysters, clams, and lobsters have the same effect as bones. They are way too thick for garbage disposal to chop up properly and can dull or break your blades.

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