Waste Disposal Units - are they worth it?

[Joe Nonety]

They seem to jam occasionally, but it would be a very easy way to get rid of vegetable peelings and left over dinner.
I was going to put one in myself but it seems a bit of hassle plus anything that involves electricity and water scares me off. Has anyone put one in themselves?

 

[Thirsty]

I had one put into my kitchen about 15 years ago; I haven't used it for at least the last 2/3 years - all veg etc., goes into compost now and the neighbours dog/cat does a good job of eating the left over dinner!

 

[Hoagy]

I used to repair them for a living. The main problems were jammed cutlery and blocked drains from grease.
Installation can be awkward enough. Assuming your sink has the large hole already, you will most likely need to install a new waste pipe, not shared with anything else, even the other bowl. Also you will need a socket in the kitchen press.
They're not a good idea if you have a septic tank or if you are not sure how good your drains are.

 

[beldin]

We are thinking about this , but does anyone know if the council have any views on these. After all it is into the sewer systems that the waste is going. From an envirnomental point of view is it good or bad...

 

[Leo]

From an envirnomental point of view is it good or bad...

Wouldn't be great I'd imagine. Everything that goes into the sewer has to be treated. Better option would be to use a wormery and/or a composter.
Leo

 

[Joe Nonety]

Ok thanks all. Decided against it. Seeing that vegetable peels will go in a compost heap and there's rarely any food left on my plate, it's not worth it.

 

[Alfie]

From a waste management point of view, these are going to be banned by local authorities in years to come, I believe. They add too much pressure on wastewater treatment system as this is where all the disposed material ends up.

 

[golden mean]

Banning them sounds pretty extreme to me- I know little about waste water management but surely the systems can cope with some carrot scrapings and a bit of mashed potato off the side of the plate! Can it be that different from whatever comes down the storm drains- leaves, etc, or whatever comes down the sewer, in terms of treatment?

At least in the wastewater plant it can be recycled and used for making fertiliser. Also, there are no transport costs invovled because it travels by pipe. I would have thought that it was (potentially at least) pretty environmentally friendly.