The answer is: you don't!
Aside from the gut wrenching fear of recovering an item that has fallen in there with your hand, garbage disposals are very wasteful.
A worm bin and outdoor compost pile make this common household appliance unnecessary. Everything that goes in the disposal can go in your worm bin or your outdoor compost pile.
Some people call their disposal the "pig". Likely, because the disposal takes the place of the family pet pig that would eat the food waste. Vermicomposting is much slower than feeding a pig, but worms are far more manageable for keeping indoors.
Did you know: disposals use about 500,000 gallons of water per day in the United States (both in your sink and during sewage treatment).
Food in the garbage disposal goes to water treatment facilities, and from there into the environment where it's at least three times more likely to disrupt ecosystems (via algal blooms) than it would if it went to a landfill. (Not that it's so great there either...)
Food scraps make up at least 10% of space in our landfills and off-gas methane, a greenhouse gas.
Through composting a typical household can keep 500 lb of biodegradable kitchen and garden waste out of landfills every year! That is per home!!
Do you feel empowered? I do. Feed your soil, not the sewer or landfill.
Cheers,
Mark
Originally published on May 3, 2009
Aside from the gut wrenching fear of recovering an item that has fallen in there with your hand, garbage disposals are very wasteful.
A worm bin and outdoor compost pile make this common household appliance unnecessary. Everything that goes in the disposal can go in your worm bin or your outdoor compost pile.
Some people call their disposal the "pig". Likely, because the disposal takes the place of the family pet pig that would eat the food waste. Vermicomposting is much slower than feeding a pig, but worms are far more manageable for keeping indoors.
Did you know: disposals use about 500,000 gallons of water per day in the United States (both in your sink and during sewage treatment).
Food in the garbage disposal goes to water treatment facilities, and from there into the environment where it's at least three times more likely to disrupt ecosystems (via algal blooms) than it would if it went to a landfill. (Not that it's so great there either...)
Food scraps make up at least 10% of space in our landfills and off-gas methane, a greenhouse gas.
Through composting a typical household can keep 500 lb of biodegradable kitchen and garden waste out of landfills every year! That is per home!!
Do you feel empowered? I do. Feed your soil, not the sewer or landfill.
Cheers,
Mark
Originally published on May 3, 2009
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