"When prepping fruits and veggies, it's easy to toss the scraps, and even those pesky little produce stickers, down the sink. After all, that's what the garbage disposal is for, right? Wrong. Those produce stickers can be especially damaging to your sink's disposal and pipes. For one, they're not water-soluble, meaning they won't break down by running the water, not even if it's hot."
"Avoiding throwing produce stickers in your sink is not just about preventing headaches and a costly plumbing mistake. If they get past your property's plumbing, they can wreak havoc at wastewater treatment facilities. While these small stickers may seem harmless, if enough people toss them down the drain, like in high-population areas, they can stick onto the treatment plant's hoses, pumps, filters, and screens."
Produce stickers are not water-soluble and their adhesive causes them to cling to garbage disposal blades, pipes, and other food debris, potentially leading to blockages. When flushed, stickers can bypass property plumbing and accumulate on wastewater treatment plant hoses, pumps, filters, and screens, degrading filtration and causing costly damage. Stickers that reach natural waters can fragment into microplastics, be ingested by wildlife, and disrupt digestive systems, with plastics potentially returning to human food and water supplies. The recommended disposal method is to remove stickers immediately from groceries and throw them in the trash; do not wash produce first, which hinders removal.
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