What can and can’t you put in your garbage disposal? As a general rule, if you can’t chew something, neither can your garbage disposal. A garbage disposal is not a chipper. Never put anything in your garbage disposal that you could not chew yourself, such as bones, corn cobs and husks, pineapple tops and rinds, peach pits, or cherry stones. Also, don’t put pasta or rice in your disposal. Rice and pasta expand in water. That’s obvious when you cook them. Pasta and rice will do the same thing in your garbage disposal and drain pipes. Don’t put egg shells or coffee grounds in your garbage disposal. While these things appear to grind up just fine, the membrane in eggshells and coffee grounds can get stuck in your disposal’s trap and clog it up. All of the things listed above can be composted. If you don’t compost, just put them in your garbage can.
Bad Odors. The most common complaint about garbage disposals is bad odors. There are a number of products on the market for deodorizing garbage disposals, but the best (and cheapest) way to solve this problem is with citrus rinds. After you have squeezed the juice out of an orange or a lemon, cut up the rind into a few large pieces and grind it up in your garbage disposal. Citrus acid is a powerful deodorizer. Use cold water. Hot water will flush the citrus acid away.
