How to Fix a Stinky Garbage Disposal

Does this sound familiar? You’ve cleaned your kitchen to spotless hygienic perfection, but you catch a whiff of something rotten every time you pass the sink. There’s a piece of something you threw down there and ground up days ago that’s stuck in the garbage disposal, and the smell only gets worse no matter how many times you run it. Inspired by recent events in my own kitchen, I reached out to three experts to get their advice on how to de-stinkify the garbage disposal.

No matter how clean you keep your kitchen, rotting pieces of food scraps can get stuck down in the garbage disposal and create a stench. As tempting as it is, never, ever, ever investigate by sticking your hand down the drain. Horrific Grey’s Anatomy story lines are based on this kind of scenario.


Becky Rapinchuk, the cleaning and housekeeping expert behind Clean Mama and author of The Organically Clean Home (Adams Media, 2014) offers an easy, nontoxic solution using two ingredients you probably have sitting around the house already. As a bonus, this solution adds a fresh citrus scent.

“My favorite method is super simple and uses just lemon juice and baking soda,” she says.

Clean Mama’s garbage disposal cleaning method:

Ingredients:

¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup baking soda

Mix lemon juice and baking soda to make a pasty liquid.Pour the fizzing liquid down the disposal. Let it sit for a few minutes. Run cold water and turn on disposal and run for up to a minute.


Oleg Kvitkovskyy, president of Doctor Rooter in Etobicoke, in Toronto, suggests avoiding harsh chemicals from the plumber’s department and using ingredients you probably already have around the house instead. “Harsh chemicals destroy the drainpipe, plus they pollute the environment,” he says. “Vinegar plus baking soda is a great natural drain cleaner.”

Doctor Rooter’s garbage disposal cleaning method:

Ingredients:

½ cup baking soda
½ cup vinegar

Sprinkle the baking soda down the drain, getting as much of it into the disposal as possible.Pour in the vinegar (this will begin the reaction between the base and and the acid). Let this mixture react for about five minutes, then run hot water down the drain for about 30 seconds. If the smell persists, repeat.


Jill Nystul, the blogger behind One Good Thing by Jillee and author of the upcoming book One Good Life (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, May 2015), has created a solution to the stinky garbage disposal as well as a great way to keep it perpetually fresh with an ice cube tray and a few common ingredients.

“By feeding your garbage disposal a steady diet of lemon-vinegar ice cubes, you will keep it clean and fresh smelling and clog free,” she says. “Lemons, vinegar and ice cubes are the cleaning trifecta when it comes to keeping your garbage disposal in tip-top shape — not to mention, [the cubes are] extremely easy and inexpensive to make!”

Here’s how these cubes will keep things running smoothly while emitting a pleasing scent. “Ice sharpens the blades, breaks up any grease build-up and scours hard-to-reach areas before melting harmlessly down the drain,” she says. “Vinegar safely kills odor-causing bacteria, and the acid in the vinegar will help remove any clogs that are forming. … The rough lemon peels also help to clean the blades, and the natural citrus oils keep things delightfully fresh smelling.”

One Good Thing by Jillee’s garbage disposal cleaning method:




Ingredients and materials:

Vinegar
Lemon
Ice cube tray

Cut up a lemon and place a lemon slice into each ice cube mold.Fill the rest of each cube mold with vinegar.Freeze fully, then keep the cubes in a zip-top bag in the freezer.Feed a handful of cubes into the disposal every few days, then run cold water and the disposal until they are crushed up.
Photo by Jill Nystul


Developing good habits can prevent this problem in the future. Be extra careful of potato skins, fruit peels (except those few bits of lemon peel you’ll use to maintain it), corn husks and pits, as they can dull and jam the blades. Keep a perforated drain cover over the disposal most of the time to catch things that shouldn’t go into the disposal.

Scrape your plates into the compost bin or trash before doing dishes. The extra benefit of developing a composting system is that it’s great for your garden.

Get on a Composting Kick


Tell us: Do you have a homemade solution for fixing a garbage disposal stench? Please share it in the Comments.

More:
Vinegar and Voilà: Clean Your House the Natural Way
12 Cleaning Projects That Go a Little Deeper — Naturally

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