The truth probably lies somewhere between and may depend on the age, type, and size of your system. Is my septic tank big enough? Disposal manufacturers insist their products are safe to use with septic systems, but some plumbers are equally adamant that they are not. One general rule of thumb: If your pipes already clog fairly often, a disposal might not be for you. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) piping became more commonplace in homes built after the mid-1970s. For details on how each model we test performs, see our garbage disposal ratings.īefore choosing a model, answer these three questions.Īre my pipes up to the task? Food debris might not present a problem in a newer home with slippery plastic drainpipes, but clog risks go up substantially if you have rugged old cast-iron drainpipes. In general, we find that the quieter models are heavier because they have more insulation. If bigger bits are left over, there’s a greater chance the kitchen sink drain will clog-and that model will receive a lower score in this test.įor noise, we measure the decibels emitted while the disposals grind a mix of bones and vegetables. A garbage disposal that garners an Excellent rating turns out food particles fine enough to slip through most of the sieves. To see how well the disposals grind food, we toss a mix of bones and raw vegetable scraps into each model and run the resulting fragments through four different-sized sieves to gauge fineness. The more food that’s left, the longer it takes to grind and the lower the score. For our speed test, we grind pieces of beef rib bones for 1 minute with cold running water, then measure how much food is left in the disposal. Our ratings of 30-plus lab-tested disposals will make the process even more seamless and help you make the best choice, depending on your situation and particular needs.Ĭonsumer Reports tests garbage disposals on a number of factors.
Here, we’ll cover everything you need to know about buying a garbage disposal, whether you’re looking to replace the one you have or you’re starting from scratch. If that doesn’t work? It may be time to go shopping. If this doesn’t work, check the circuit breaker or fuse to make sure it is not tripped. (The reset button is like a circuit breaker that needs to be reset after the disposal shuts off, typically because of a strain on the motor.) In fact, before you call the plumber-or throw down hundreds of dollars on a new grinder-simply reset the disposal by pressing the small (usually red) button on the bottom or lower backside of the unit. Your disposal might be kaput if you notice it leaking, taking longer to grind, making louder-than-usual noises, or requiring a reset often. According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, these appliances last about 11 years, so if yours came with the place, depending on how long you’ve lived there, it could soon be time to look for a new one. adults shows that just over half of Americans live in homes with a garbage disposal, and of those who do have one, more than 60 percent said their disposal was already installed when they moved in.
So if you’re considering installing or replacing a disposal but are concerned about the environmental impact, find out how your local sewage treatment plant processes the town’s wastewater.Ī February 2020 nationally representative CR survey of 1,000 U.S. The remaining solids are turned into fertilizer for farms. wastewater plants use what’s called anaerobic digestion to turn the gas generated from food waste into biofuel. Garbage disposals efficiently eliminate waste and dispatch it for environmentally friendly processing. In 2019, methane emissions from municipal solid waste were almost equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from more than 21.6 million passenger vehicles driven for one year.
Plus, garbage disposals immediately rid your home of waste, odors, and any critters they might attract.Īccording to the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA), solid waste landfills release harmful gases, composed of roughly 50 percent carbon dioxide and 50 percent methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere-a key contributor to climate change. When food waste is processed at a wastewater plant, it’s even more eco-friendly than composting. Disposals grind spoiled meats, corn cobs, fish bones, ice, and all those veggies kids reject, discharging them down the drain to a wastewater plant (unless you have a septic system). They do double duty, meeting the often competing demands of convenience and conservation. Did you know your trashed dinner scraps end up in a landfill, slowly decaying into greenhouse gas? Garbage disposals solve this concern.
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