Garbage disposal or no garbage disposal

I haven't had one in the house we've been in for 21 years. It's against code because of the septic system. I've never missed it, even though we had one in our previous place. I compost vegetable stuff in the back yard instead.

Had one growing up and can remember losing many pieces of silverware to it. Have been in the same house over 28 years and we haven't had one. Don't miss having one, in fact I like having all my intact silverware. We are on septic so I don't think it's an option for us...but even it were I wouldn't care to have one.

I can't imagine not having one. Well, I can... my in-laws don't have one and I HATE it. We have a good, strong one that can even grind chicken bones and banana peels and I love love love it. Saves so much stuff from going in the trash where it would get stinky.

I've only ever had one in 1 college apartment. never before, never since. don't really miss it, tho it was "fun" to see what it could eat.

I don't use mine because it doesn't seem smart since I have a septic. In my old house the disposal did t work very well do I rarely used it and the house before that didn't have one. I'm happy just to scrape things into the trash. If stuff might get too stinky I freeze it and then take it out on trash day.

I’ve always had one, except the House I have now. Been here for 15 years and it took awhile to get used to not having one. Now I’m pretty much obsessed about taking every teeny, tiny speck of whatever out to the compost. I actually like it.

Strong magnets on the fridge thrown into the disposal will do the job! Ask my son!

How in the world does that even happen??

Never have had one.  In my condo, it is not allowed.  Never had one in any of the houses that I lived in.  Plumber always said that they would be a constant pain, as they require cleaning and this will cost $$.

Also, we have a great recycling program where I live.  Separate the paper from cardboard & bottles and have a counter-top organic recycling container.  Simply scrape the plates into the organic container.  The little bags are also compost.  There is very little actual "garbage".  There are the different recycling bins to use and are picked up by the waste management company without problem.  The compost from our building goes into the regional compost centre and this is then used by the region/city for use in city landscaping projects.

How difficult is it to scrape the stuff into organic compost container than down a sink.  REMEMBER that everything that goes down a sink has to be somehow filtered with water when the water is being treated to re-use. 

Better for the environment to recycle and to compost.
 

Why would your DD put a stopper down the disposal? Isn't she older? That's not a thing you can blame on kids, but a duh! thing.

I'd find a screen that goes over the disposal hole. We've had a variety over the years and it helps keep items from accidentally dropping down into the disposal. I find them very handy and I wouldn't have a sink without one. My parents have a septic system and have one, but only plate scrapings can go into it. They compost the rest.

I have a disposal but my home was built in the 50's and a plumber told me that it's not a good idea to use the disposal as a main source to dispose of food. I use mine for the small particles that get caught in the drain catch and I rinse dishes on that side of the sink so a few small particles from the dishes. The dishes are first scraped into the garbage then rinsed. I run some lemon juice in mine periodically to keep it fresh.

I did use mine when I first moved in to the house and it created a huge main blockage in my main drain. That's when the plumber advised me not to use it for anything other than what I described above.

I have a love affair with my disposal in my old house. It should have moved out with instead of my husband.

My son took it out and replaced it with pipes as he is to cheap to run the amount of water needed to keep it running right.

All my homes have had one and I’ve never had a problem .We owned one home on a septic system and were able to install a disposal designed for septic. It made a finer grind and had a enzyme thing that was mixed with the ground stuff.

Well, our HOA has banned composting ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I suspect some people weren't doing it properly and putting things in there that shouldn't have been there, but there was beginning to be a vermin problem in parts of the neighborhood and NO ONE wanted that to get out of hand. Our neighborhood is high density but borders farm land (typical for new construction around here), and that could very rapidly become a real problem. Our area once had curbside composting but that went away because the "plant" where it was being taken couldn't handle the volume and it was creating odor issues in the community that surrounded it, so the whole program was shut down.