Reasons To Get A Garbage Disposal Unit For Your Home

Are under the sink garbage disposal units (often known as garburators) a frivolous luxury, or should more households be adopting their use?

Waste disposal is a serious problem in urban centers. In 2004-5, the amount of household waste in New York City totaled 3.3 million tons. Twenty-one percent of this (700,000 tons) was made up of food scraps. When organic waste such as food scraps is dumped into landfills it rots, giving off methane, a very potent greenhouse gas. If this waste is incinerated instead, the high water content means that a large amount of energy has to be used to heat it to the point of burning.

When food scraps are disposed of in under the sink garbage disposal units (garburators) they end up in a city’s liquid waste disposal stream. Since only about 30% of the total mass of food scraps is solid—70% is water—there is surprisingly little impact on a city’s liquid waste/sewage disposal systems. The finely divided solids (sludge) can be processed to yield biogases such as methane that are collected and used as fuel. The energy derived from the methane more than compensates for the energy needed to process the material. The remaining solids make a good fertilizer.

But aren’t there extra water and energy costs in using a garburator? In fact, surprisingly little. It is estimated that the excess water used per household is equivalent to one extra toilet flush per day. And the electrical demand of a typical garburetor is approximately 3 or 4 kilowatt-hours per household per year. In practical terms, that’s less than the energy used by a household iron to iron one shirt a day.

If you aren’t bothered by the environmental costs of throwing your food scraps in the garbage, think of the impact on your municipal tax bill. Assuming New York City’s experience is representative of many major urban centers—New York City’s solid waste disposal costs in 2011 were more than $3 billion—if even half of households used garburators, a city would save 10% on its waste disposal budget. The savings on the average tax bill in a single year would cover purchase of a typical garburator, $200-$300.

Are you thinking about installing a garbage disposal in your Trinity home? Call Roman Plumbing at (727) 858-3412 and get started today!