apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Your method is what I do, too. Lemons and limes all the time, too :)

I always put used up lemons in the disposal, they make it smell so nice! If it gets grimy, I pour a bunch of vinegar and baking soda down there and let it sit for a while, and flush it with lots of hot water.

Great tips, thanks. I have a fruit fly problem that I think I've traced to the garbage disposal. I figure these solutions should work for that too.

i find that vinegar ice cubes help....

The underside of the rubber collar thing that stops splash ups can get gunky too - every now and then I put on the rubber gloves and clean up under the wing things with an old dish brush.

Grind an occasional lemon or lime rind, and grind all the shells from eggs I use in cooking (they have a particularly abrasive quality). A handful of baking soda with either of these seems to help, at least in the short term.

One thing that wasn't mentioned here is that on a day-to-day basis the water used to flush stuff through the disposal should be cold, not hot or warm. The warmer water can melt fat in the sink, which will immediately solidify on the walls of the (relatively cool) grinder, then eventually go rancid.

Funny I just noticed this morning that mine was a bit stinky. I use lemons and eggshells too. Also, a plumber once told me to only run cold water, never hot when you use the disposal. Hot can make the food particles soft or partially melted and then they stick to the blades and sides even more.

I use the above methods as well but I freeze used lemon rinds

I also find that the rubber collar thing gets pretty gross... Rubber gloves old dish brush is definitely the way to go. I also sometimes use an old sponge (before it gets thrown out...) to give the collar a good soapdown too.

I squirt the sides of the garbage disposal with toilet bowl cleaner and use an old, round brush to scrub down the walls. The underside of the rubber collar gets lots of scum built up and the brush does a good job at scouring it out. This gets rid of the stench really well.

I do the above flushing with a splash of bleach.

So glad you shared these tips with us. Over Labor Day weekend my kitchen flooded (I was away from home and came back to the stinky mess.) The plumber had to go down 25 feet before all the sludge and muck was cleared. So good to know a few tips for cleaning out, flushing away and getting rid of the smell.

I put a whole bunch of ice cubes down there, like a whole tray.

Wow, I thought my mom was the only person who owned that colander.

I'm going to forward this to our office manager - the kitchens in our office always smell because of this and I'm hopeful your suggestion will do the trick!

@pbelardo...I think everyone's mom has that colander!

my mom has that colander!

I have that colander too! Made by Tupperware and is I think a late 70's or early 80's vintage. I bought mine at a garage sale years ago and I doubt it was used much and my sister has one, same color that she's had I think since they got married back in the early 80's. I use mine all the time too!

I think I've seen them in that olive green too once.

Instead of drinking soda, I usually drink seltzer water with a slice of lime. So I regularly put lime rinds down the disposal, and that seems to keep it healthy :) If only my indoor composter smelled as sweet.

My Mom has that same colander...and I bet everyone's Mom also has the orange pitcher from the same era of Tupperware! hahaha!

The flushing with the baking soda and vinegar really does help!