Tis the season for delicious food!

While you’re planning your holiday menus, have you stopped to think about what all of these holiday favorites mean for your garbage disposal? Avoid the embarrassment and hassle of a clogged kitchen sink this holiday season by ensuring you don’t put the wrong things down your drain.

Grease and Oil

Have you ever held onto your leftover bacon grease to use later? Then you’ve noticed just how solid it becomes once it’s cooled. Now imagine that happening deep down in your pipes – yikes! To keep your drains clean, steer clear from dumping holiday favorites like:

  • Drippings from turkey/ham
  • Gravy
  • All animal fats
  • Butters

Turkey Bones & Poultry Skins

Truly, you should apply the golden rule of not dropping bones of any kind down your garbage disposal. Even small bones can be pretty tough and ultimately not break down enough to make it down the pipes, resulting in a nasty clog.

Speaking of a nasty clog, even though turkey and chicken skins aren’t hard like bones, they can still wreak havoc on your garbage disposal. Even if they don’t result in a clog, odds are they will quickly leave a pretty rotten smell.

Egg Shells

Cookies, cakes and pies are great holiday treats, and they all contain one common garbage disposal enemy – eggs. Eggshells don’t play nicely with a disposal because of the thin membrane on the inside of the shell. A garbage disposal can’t do anything with it, which means it will end up wrapped around the blade.

Stringy Veggies & Peels

Veggies are good and good for you, but not so good for your garbage disposal. Why? All those fibers that make them great health choices lead them to wrap themselves around the blades of your garbage disposal, preventing it from working properly.

Toss these stringy vegetables into the trash or compost:

  • Artichokes
  • Asparagus
  • Green beans
  • Leafy greens
  • Onions

In addition to not putting these key garbage disposal no-no’s down the drain this holiday season, make sure you’re keeping up with regular maintenance. Try running cold water with some baking soda or grinding a lemon peel for freshness. If your blades seem a little dull, give ice cubes a try.

If you do run into a holiday-inspired clog, don’t hesitate to give us a call!