Funny thing happens when you have a lot of tedious projects to do. Suddenly you have to figure out, right-this-instant, why the garbage disposal smells&mdahs;as in, get out the flashlight and tongs and remove the rubber collar. And what I found actually surprised me.
Yes, you guessed correctly, I found pieces of onions. But not as you would expect. I found onion skins. They had glued themselves along the walls of the disposal, clinging to all sorts of unsavory items as they made their way down the chute. The skins had been too lightweight to grind up and who knows how long they had survived down there.
I managed to pull them out with tongs and a spoon and resolved to just toss my discarded onion bits in the trash bin from now on.
Is your disposal smelling less than fresh? Try our cleaning tips!
Related: Garbage Disposal Nightmares: When Objects Get Stuck
(Images: Flickr user Rachel Zach licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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This reminds me of my first big canning and pickling day in our new-to-us home. I had the dishwasher running with my canning jars and other things, merrily fixing the onions and cukes - ran the garbage disposal. It choked and stopped. Got out the plunger and went to work - cleared it and cleaned things up. Opened the dishwasher at the end of the cycle and there were onion peelings over everything - hot jars dry the peelings really fast - and tight!
Got those all washed off, got the canning done. Went downstairs for something and there is a pool of water and peelings and "sludge" all over the floor at the drain.
Can't forget those first canning experiences!
Or freeze the onion skins (along w/carrot peelings & celery trimmings) to save for making homemade stock.
Composting your food waste should keep your garbage disposal from smelling.
Grind up half a lemon or lime rind in the disposal for the smell.
"Why to avoid"? Sometimes the writing on this site gives me the heebs.
Garbage disposals should be avoided if at all possible, all of that food waste taxes the water system. In some parts Europe they are banned. Best to compost.
@CGilly wSome city building codes require garbage disposals be installed if you have a dishwasher that requires it's own plumbing.
That doesn't mean we are required to use them, of course.
Why aren't we well past the misunderstanding that garbage disposals are how one eliminates their garbage? In-sink disposals are for clearing pipes and dishwasher connections of whatever stray bits get past the diligent scraping in, well, the obvious already posted here -- compost pails or trash cans. In this house, if it can make it past the strainer basket in the sink drain, only then is it down the hatch material.
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PS - I am with asmallcontempt. This recent one got me: "In Which I Wonder..." Phrasing of this nature can charm but only if (just for giggles) one reads it in a slightly dark Slavic sounding accent.