The Sneaky Kitchen Habit That Can Jam Your Sink Over Time - Tasting Table

"The issue with vegetables that contain stringy fibers is that these strands can wrap around the blades of your unit, and over time lead to jamming. Alternatively, these long fibers may slip through the blades entirely and end up further down in the pipes where they can tangle together in knots and catch other food particles."

"Beyond fibrous vegetables, garbage disposal units don't deal well with certain food scraps including eggshells, avocado pips, or bones, which won't be cut small enough to wash away cleanly. And it's not just hard foods to avoid, either. Oils, rice, pasta, and even flour can gum up your pipes."

Garbage disposal units are designed to handle small food scraps by chopping them into pieces that wash away with water. However, fibrous vegetables like artichokes, asparagus, celery, corn husks, and onion skins pose significant problems. Their stringy fibers wrap around disposal blades causing jamming, or slip through and tangle in pipes below, creating blockages. Beyond fibrous vegetables, eggshells, avocado pits, bones, oils, rice, pasta, and flour also damage disposal systems. Disposing of these items in trash or compost bins instead of down the sink prevents costly plumbing problems and maintains proper drainage.

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