How Should You Trash the Trash?

“You can’t put that in there,” my mother warns me.

“Throw it away instead,” she says. Like many, I believe that using a garbage disposal is a convenient eco-friendly solution to getting rid of food waste. Disposals return pieces of food to our water streams for creatures to eat, while our trash bags rot in holes on our precious land.

My mom disagrees.

And so, the debate begins: is it better to throw food away or put it in the garbage disposal? The true answer is, well, neither. Obviously composting is the ‘greenest’ choice. So while you do your research and prepare for the fall (the best time to begin composting), what do you do in the meantime?

Use the trash can.

Granted I’m no expert, but after some research, it seems that trash is better for the environment than disposals. Here are a few reasons.

First, garbage disposals use a lot of water. Grinding food requires a running faucet. Think about how long the faucet runs when the garbage disposal is on in your house and how much water is wasted. Conserve our most precious resource and use the can.

Secondly, garbage disposals can also create ground-up solid waste that ends up as sewage sludge. This can overload a water treatment facility or your septic system. The US EPA advises septic system owners to steer clear of disposals as they lead to a more rapid buildup of scum and sludge layers in the septic tank. This increases the risk of clogging in the soil absorption field due to higher concentrations of suspended solids in the “effluent.” If you’re a fan of the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, you may recall the episode where he spent the day as a service man for septic tanks – overflowing, malfunctioning septic tanks.

Granted, throwing food in the trash will shift the burden to landfills. Landfills, however, are causing fewer problems than sewage treatment systems. These treatment systems are a main source of “nutrient pollution,” one of the main causes of oxygen-deprived bodies of water, or coastal dead zones. Adding your food waste to sewage streams only makes the problem worse.

So as I toss my egg shells and scraps in the trash, I am not only pleasing my mother, but also the environment. Again, composting is the best choice. But until then, don’t trash the trash. Use your garbage disposal sparingly, save water, save sewage systems and prevent a dirty job for Mike Rowe.