Why do most American houses have ‘garbage disposals’ in their sinks?

r/

I just can’t see why you’d need to have a blender-type thing between a sink and the plumbing/drains, surely nothing big enough to warrant blending can fit down the plug hole in the first place

Here in the UK (and probably elsewhere in the world) we have things that look like an umbrella to catch all the small food scraps, jewellery, hair, etc so that our drains don’t get clogged and it’s easier to clean once you’ve done the dishes

Comments

  1. SomeDoOthersDoNot Avatar

    The plug hole is larger than a standard sink so larger food items can go down. The idea is that if I’m cutting the tops off of strawberries, if I put them in the garbage, they are going to start to rot over the next few days and stink up my kitchen. I put them down the garbage disposal, they’ll be blended up and flushed away so I don’t have to worry about the stink.

  2. Seaworthy-7432 Avatar

    It keeps your trash from stinking. You can fit a surprising amount of food down a garbage disposal just don’t throw like a whole steak in there. I’m not a plumber but I lived in many houses with garbage disposals and it all goes down fine. Occasionally a disposal can get clogged but so can any sink line.

  3. Free_PalletLine Avatar

    So they can dispose of food waste without it sitting in the bin.

  4. douggold11 Avatar

    It’s just a small convenience.  After a meal, the plate is going in the sink so with a disposal I don’t hand to stop at the trash first to get rid of the small scraps of food I didn’t finish. 

  5. TalentIsAnAsset Avatar

    Conversely, how do people do without them?

    We were in the UK recently, and while I knew the place we stayed probably wouldn’t have one, it was interesting just dropping everything in the bin.

    That was something else, too – walking down a street of row houses, and every fence had a black bag of trash hanging off it – just seemed odd.

  6. Slow_Performance6734 Avatar

    It’s so great you’re just jealous

  7. FluffySoftFox Avatar

    It’s not really intended to just purposefully pour all of your leftover scraps and stuff down the sink It’s mostly just meant to handle the little bits and pieces of food that naturally fall into the drain while doing things like washing dishes

    It’s easier to install a cheap like $100 device that grinds up anything that goes in there then having to pay a plumber every time of something starts clogging up the pipes or having to manually shove your hand down there to clear out some little pieces of noodles that fell in there or whatever

  8. Clojiroo Avatar

    > surely nothing big enough to warrant blending can fit down the hold in the first place

    Garbage disposals don’t have little drain holes. It’s the size of the entire drain with some rubber flaps.

    You can get a hand in there.

    It’s effectively a basin that food collects into and then turning it on purées it.

  9. Snoo_87704 Avatar

    Do you throw away old soup by pouring it in the garbage can?

  10. CenterofChaos Avatar

    They’re not common everywhere in the US. People use them to dispose of food you might otherwise compost. Many places lack trash pick up so blending it up into the sewer is easier than letting it fester until you can go to the dump.       

    The device that goes into the sink to catch bits is called a strainer here. 

  11. Colseldra Avatar

    Because you just dispose of the leftovers and it goes down the sink drain

    You don’t have food sitting in your trash can, you just turn on the sink and hit a switch and it’s gone

    Why wouldn’t you want something that makes things more convenient and stops bugs from coming in it’s like 80 to 100° F a large part of the year where I am

  12. CharacterDramatic960 Avatar

    you answered your own question. its so we dont need to reach in the sink and pull the drain catcher with all the wet nasty food gunk stuck in it.

  13. JPGoure Avatar

    It’s so useful. Not having one sucks ass.

  14. JackfruitCrazy51 Avatar

    Europe has a lot of cool things that we as Americans don’t have, but garbage disposals are one of the few things that I can’t believe other countries haven’t incorporated.

  15. BarbKatz1973 Avatar

    Well, if you have a warm climate, and your trash is collected once a week, the potato peelings and other food wastes rot. They stink badly. Therefore you need a compost pile or bin, but if you are on the 27th floor on 72 and the Park, that is a luxury that does not exist for you and given the penchant of the sanitation workers to go on strike, rotting waste is not something you want. Even in the suburbs many HOA have rules against composting. Some cities have compost collection but that is mainly for tree and lawn waste products. And no one wants to handle meat waste, products like fats, or chicken skin, etc. The other big thing is recycling, most of the stuff people think they are recycling is being dumped in the oceans. Big problems with no easy solutions in sight.

  16. Frankie_Rad Avatar

    American who lived in London for a year here 🖐

    That little food catch thing made my life a living hell. Scooping wet food bits out of it was so gross, it always made me and my bf gag. And it still has holes in it for water the get through, so little food bits would still get through as well, and sometimes they’d get stuck in the sinks u-bend and rot. I regularly had to use drain-o (I dont remember the name of the British equivalent, I’d buy it at Waitrose) to keep the pipes clear.

    I regularly wished that garbage disposals were a thing there.

    Also! The whole washing your dishes in a basin in the sink is so nasty! The water would get so gross and there’d be little food bits floating. Couldn’t stand it.
    The hard water thing was also a nightmare, constant battle with limescale and it made my hair so brittle. Love London but my god those old buildings/piping need updating.

  17. GeeKay44 Avatar

    UK here.

    Had waste disposals for 20+ years.
    No smelly bins. It will get rid of chicken bones/carcass, mussel shells, vegetable trimmings, and T bags (because UK).

  18. airheadtiger Avatar

    Once you experience the convenience you will always appreciate a garbage disposal. Pretty much anything organic can go down the drain. Paper towels to chicken bones it will take it all away.

  19. Milgram37 Avatar

    I’m not certain that “most” American homes have them. Perhaps many do, but 3/3 that I have owned have not had them.

  20. TreeOfLife36 Avatar

    Why are these questions so often judgmental and superior?
    “Why do you have X thing that is clearly so dumb? In My Country, and “probably elsewhere in the world,” we don’t have X thing because it’s obviously the best way to do things.”

    Just ask the question.

    People have garbage disposals because it’s convenient. That’s it. Not everyone has them. You don’t have to have them if you don’t want to, either.

  21. No_Clock_6371 Avatar

    There are two ways to deal with the large solids in liquid waste streams. One is to screen them out. The other is to chop them up. Opinions differ. In my opinion, screening is better, but a lot of people do chopping. Screening means you have to grab the solids and throw them in the trash. Some people find that icky. Chopping it up means you are still dealing with that stuff in the pipes, but at least it’s smaller.

    Interestingly, the same two methods are used at wastewater pumping stations, but on a larger scale. Before the sewage is pumped, there is either a screen to remove material (and that screen has to be mechanically raked to remove the stuff), or there is a grinder or chopper that cuts it up small enough to pass the pump.

  22. aracauna Avatar

    Do most American houses have one? I’ve lived in multiple American houses and I’ve never had a house with one. I don’t know of any of my relatives who do either.

    Maybe it’s just not something for people with septic tanks? I’ve never lived somewhere on a sewer system since college.

  23. DoubleDongle-F Avatar

    Builder here, I hate these things. The only thing I ever use mine for is to unclog itself. They cost a couple hundred bucks, complicate the wiring, complicate the plumbing a little, and add no functionality I have ever given a damn about. I know there are hundreds of comments and mine will be lost here, but I’ve got to rant. Absolute waste.

  24. kalelopaka Avatar

    Don’t have one, don’t see the need.

  25. patchouligirl77 Avatar

    I don’t know if ‘most’ American homes have them but out of the 13 houses I’ve lived in throughout my life, I don’t recall any of them having a garbage disposal. I have been composting whatever food waste I can for the last 15 years or more and what I cannot is thrown in the trash.

  26. DeFiClark Avatar

    Some, not most.

    Houses that are on septic rather than municipal sewage typically won’t have them.

    That’s about a quarter of all houses in the US.

    Of the 10 or so houses I’ve lived in, only a couple had garbage disposals.

  27. Timely_Egg_6827 Avatar

    Having lived with one in the US, it is on the cards for a kitchen remodel in the UK. The point of the garbage disposal is not as a waste trap but as an alternative to a black bin or composting bin.

  28. Merkkin Avatar

    Same reason I have a washer and dryer, it’s just convenient.

  29. Realistic_Jello_2038 Avatar

    I can’t imagine not having a garbage disposal. I am not a fussy person, but scraping old food into the garbage to sit and smell is just gross.

  30. kmoonster Avatar

    It’s not a blender. That may be what’s confusing you.

    A garbage disposal is more like a coffee grinder, and it doesn’t do big items even if they are big enough to fit down the hole. And you have to run water or drain the sink while you operate it (the water is what moves stuff through the plates).

    It’s just for small scraps, and it pulverizes the bits so they are small enough to be carried by the water flow so chunks aren’t settling out of the water and building up clogs.

    Most don’t do egg shells, and none do bones. You can’t dump a whole coffee filter in there. No paper, etc. Just little scraps of soft or soft-ish stuff that is already small enough to not be eaten.

  31. darklogic85 Avatar

    It actually works really well, and you can fit fairly large things in it. It’ll grind up scraps from raw vegetables and other leftover food. It’s more convenient than putting it in the trash and having it start to rot and smell bad. You can put a lot of different things in it, like egg shells, pieces you cut out of vegetables or fruits that you’d normally throw in the trash, etc. Mine is big enough to put something maybe the size of a baseball in it. I haven’t tried like a whole apple or anything like that, but I think it could probably handle it.

  32. KittyKupo Avatar

    I love garbage disposals, it’s so nice to be able to wash small food bits that are on the dishes down the drain without having to worry about it clogging or having to clean the gross “umbrella thing”. You don’t purposely put things in there, it’s not for blending your food trash. It’s for keeping your sink clog free with minimal effort. And I’m lazy

  33. JankeyMunter Avatar

    Imagine having an umbrella like device in your sink that catches everything before it goes down the drain. Now imagine you NEVER have to empty it , ever – all for the one time cost of $150.

  34. blipsman Avatar

    It’s a convenient way to dispose of food scraps, vegetable peels and the like, rather than having to scoop them out of the drain by hand and throw them away. A disposal costs like $100 and connects to the pipes below the sink so it’s cheap and unobtrusive to have it.

  35. itemluminouswadison Avatar

    Why do dishwashers exist? Just convenience

  36. lol_camis Avatar

    It’s a luxury item. Not every house has one. If you can liquify your food waste and send it down to the sewers, why not? Your garbage bin won’t fill up with rotting food

  37. DryFoundation2323 Avatar

    It’s a major convenience. Not as much food waste in your trash so it doesn’t smell as much. And you don’t have to worry about your drains getting clogged.

  38. loricomments Avatar

    So our trash doesn’t stink from food garbage while inside and doesn’t attract rodents while outside. Less to go into a landfill too.

  39. bird9066 Avatar

    In my city trash space is precious, lol. We get one bin a week and no real place to compost in a lot of apartments. I loved the garbage disposal.

    We have a house now with a yard. Trying to figure out how to compost without offending the neighbors. Our yard isn’t that big. We’re planning a garden and have lots of large planters though

  40. Dangerous-Bit-8308 Avatar

    The first american housing boom occured right after WWII, at a time when the U.S. was on a wild quest to eliminate all alleyways. G.I. hising loans forbade alleys, and required some newer utilities which largely required new homes to be built.

    Alleys at the time were considered old fashioned and dirty. Automobiles, plumbing, sewage, electricity, and natural gas eliminated all the traditional required uses of the alley: garbage.

    Traditional homes kept the front yard pristine, reserving the alley for all gross things. The first garbage macerator was patented in the 1930s, just in time to be marketed as a way to dispose of food waste without putting smelly scraps out on the front yard, and became a big selling point for “modern” kitchens.

    And yes, they work. Our drains are 4 inches in diameter. A garbage dispisal can grind up a whole lemon, an 8 ounce steak, a potato… pretty much any food waste that isn’t a bone or a peach pit.

    Is it the best idea? Maybe not. For older cities, a rapid switch to garbage disposals can overwhelm the existing sewer treatment plants.

  41. Digger_Pine Avatar

    Because why not? They kick ass.

  42. Esteban-Du-Plantier Avatar

    Tell me why I wouldn’t want such a thing.

  43. UnlamentedLord Avatar

    It’s extremely convenient compared to the physical catchers you’re describing (I’ve used them), that you have to take out, empty, clean and replace. Whereas I just have to keep the water running a couple seconds longer after finishing with the sink, hold a button and I’m done.

  44. Gratexpectations Avatar

    It’s definitely not easier to clean the goop from a sink trap versus flipping a switch to grind it all up lol. Don’t hate the garbage disposal just because you don’t have one!

  45. stalebird Avatar

    If I see a dream house but it didn’t have a garbage disposal and there was some weird by-law that said you couldn’t install one, I would not buy that house.

    Maybe it’s a lazy American thing but outside of Central A/C, it’s one of my must haves.

  46. KMjolnir Avatar

    “Most”? It’s not most.

  47. Pretend-Sundae-2371 Avatar

    I live in the UK and have fitted a waste disposal in the past. It’s fantastic if you don’t have food waste bins because it means less household waste and smell. You can put pretty much anything down them except banana peels – fruit peelings, apple cores, cooked food etc. I haven’t bothered in my new place because food waste recycling is now much more common.

  48. lagrange_james_d23dt Avatar

    Sinks that don’t have it, while still having food go in it, get disgusting so fast

  49. AggressiveAd69x Avatar

    I use mine all the time, they’re great. Way better than scooping shit into the trash

  50. AnymooseProphet Avatar

    Most dishwashers are designed to feed into one so that bits of food washed off of the dishes don’t go directly into the plumbing.

  51. ironmanchris Avatar

    Don’t blame us for making life easier. Keep living in the old days and I will keep my disposal.

  52. Preppy_Hippie Avatar

    True you don’t NEED it but it’s MUCH more convenient and sanitary.

    The point is you don’t have to reach in and carry out the slimy, drippy mess. You don’t have to get your hands dirty, after them being basically clean from washing dishes or processing veggies, and then have to wash them again (or if you just rinse your hands after removing those dirty scraps, you will spread bacterial filth to a dish towel- if you are especially disgusting). It’s extremely useful if you process a lot of vegetables and especially appreciated if you process a mix of vegetables and meat. There are always dirty bits that end up in the sink.

  53. HotPinkDemonicNTitty Avatar

    Why would I want the sink stopper thing there all the time if I can just flip a switch?

  54. Mooovement Avatar

    Honestly, my (British) parents have one and I have always wished I could fit one wherever I’ve lived – it saves having leftover food in your bin.

  55. eghhge Avatar

    Often the drain line from the dishwasher is connected directly to the disposal

  56. Legitimate_Lawyer_86 Avatar

    I would never ever ever ever live in a home without one.

  57. pancake_nath Avatar

    Friend, I’m the first one to call out american nonsense. Except that the garbage disposal is pure genius and true civilization. I love it and when I’m back in Europe I’ll most certainly install one at my house.

  58. SarreMolloy Avatar

    I live in the U.K. and my parents always had a waste disposal unit growing up! I wish I still had one. It’s much more convenient putting food waste down the disposal rather than putting it in a stinky box to get picked up once a week.

    I will definitely be getting one when I do my kitchen up this year.

  59. purplehorseneigh Avatar

    Foreigners say that until they experience living with a garbage disposal. And then they become all about it.

  60. Dear_Locksmith3379 Avatar

    This question is like asking why so many European houses have a bidet. It’s not necessary but it’s nicer.

  61. whitephos420 Avatar

    Because it’s better than not having one.

  62. LeafyCandy Avatar

    It doesn’t even make sense either because plumbers say basically to not put anything in it aside from tiny scraps. So they’re fairly pointless. I’d love to take mine out.

  63. missangel21 Avatar

    I don’t think that they’re really that common. If so, maybe they’re regional? In my almost-50 years I’ve only known one person that has had one and they live in another state. No one that I know from my area has ever had one.

  64. discourse_friendly Avatar

    We have more robust plumbing and it can handle it. I could shove an entire tomato down that thing and no problem.

    My ex wifes grandma moved from korea and she never got into the habbit of flushing her toilet paper, as most the houses she lived in it would clog or something. so she put it in the trash.. o.O

  65. Beginning-Painter-26 Avatar

    As someone who grew up in Europe and moved to the U.S, this is one of the things I do not miss at all. Digging for nasty bits & gunk to scoop out into the trash. No thanks.

    The garbage disposal is a great tool.

  66. Comfortable-Dish1236 Avatar

    Because we don’t have bidets in our bathrooms.

  67. bluemoon71 Avatar

    I’m living in my first place with a garbage disposal and it literally makes doing dishes so much better and not a gross, sensory nightmare. Instead of seeing/smelling/accidentally touching soggy, gross food I can just rinse it down the drain and blend it to hell forever.