what do you do with garbage food?

amother

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 3:46 am

I have never considered putting food down the toilet.

We use small shopping bags, double wrapped if necessary, for food that might smell, and take it down to the garbage bin outside ASAP. Liquid goes down the sink, mixed stuff I strain down the sink and then put in garbage bag.

Lots of people I know have a special small bin for food waste, sometimes with activated charcoal to stop it smelling, in London the council have just started giving out these brown food waste bins that they collect for recycling, as well as plastics, glass, foil etc.

When I was younger, my parents had a compost heap where everything went, and then used it on the flowers and plants.

zaq

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 9:04 am

Here's the deal: municipal sewer systems are designed to handle human body waste. They are not designed to handle food waste. Aside from clogging pipes, sending food waste down the hatch can actually "poison" or at least severely handicap the municipal sewage-treatment system. What your dh is doing is a major, major no-no.

I don't know how big your kitchen waste bin is. If you buy trash can liners and take them out half-empty, that's a waste indeed. So why not get a smaller bin, use smaller bags, and take the trash out every night? An alternative, though not an energy-efficient one, is to freeze food waste in closable containers and then dump the frozen block of waste into the trash bag just before taking the trash out.

You could also try composting plant waste. This is very doable if you have a yard and can set up a compost heap in a corner. You can do vermicomposting with earthworms indoors if you don't object to housing a big bin with earthworms crawling around inside. Do not compost animal waste, though--it will attract dogs, rats and other carnivorous animals.

Ladies, I plead with you--do not throw food waste down the drain or the toilet!

chocolate chips

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 9:10 am

My dh works in the plumbing business so he wouldn't do this if it would damage the toilet pipes or clog it (although occasionally he gets lazy, don't we all Wink

)

Either way soup with soft veggies, chulent and such soft mushy yuck will go down the toilet.
Bones and vegetables from salad and plate leftovers as well as most 'hard' leftovers go in teh garbage bag. And it stinks. And dh has to take it out. But that is what a garbage is for right? Garbage!
I don't pour liquids into my garbage bag because they usually leak out and that is gross.

Hot oil usually goes down the toilet because as dh said it is better down the wide pipes of the toilet than down the kitchen smaller pipes. If it is a lot (from donuts and such) then it goes in a double shopping bag in the garbage.

greenfire

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 9:22 am

chocolate chips wrote:

My dh works in the plumbing business so he wouldn't do this if it would damage the toilet pipes or clog it (although occasionally he gets lazy, don't we all Wink

I'm shocked that any plumber would even consider this - let alone do this

also anything HOT including water will potentially break the cold ceramic toilet bowl ... forget what it does to the pipes ... you're lucky you still have a pot to piss in ...

Iymnok

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 11:01 am

When I have really gross leftovers I line a pot or bowl with a plastic bag (prechecked for holes). dump the stuff in and rinse out the pot/container immediately. Tie the bag well and drop it in another bag, tie it well then put in the garbage. I also do this with oil from deep frying- after it has cooled down. Only real liquid, like clear soup goes down the sink. Grocery/produce/sandwich bags are cheaper and a lot less of a headache then a plumber.

chocolate chips

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 1:18 pm

greenfire wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

My dh works in the plumbing business so he wouldn't do this if it would damage the toilet pipes or clog it (although occasionally he gets lazy, don't we all Wink

Oy my mistake obviously we let it cool first. Hot oil stays in the pot on the side until it is cold (not congealed).
Sorry!!

33055

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 3:19 pm

chocolate chips wrote:

greenfire wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

My dh works in the plumbing business so he wouldn't do this if it would damage the toilet pipes or clog it (although occasionally he gets lazy, don't we all Wink

Oy my mistake obviously we let it cool first. Hot oil stays in the pot on the side until it is cold (not congealed).
Sorry!!

My DH totally agrees with CC's DH. Without getting too specific, my DH has major credentials and three decades experience in the field. We have never had any problem doing what CC's DH does.

greenfire

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 4:25 pm

Squishy wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

greenfire wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

My dh works in the plumbing business so he wouldn't do this if it would damage the toilet pipes or clog it (although occasionally he gets lazy, don't we all Wink

Oy my mistake obviously we let it cool first. Hot oil stays in the pot on the side until it is cold (not congealed).
Sorry!!

My DH totally agrees with CC's DH. Without getting too specific, my DH has major credentials and three decades experience in the field. We have never had any problem doing what CC's DH does.

I'm glad you both have dh's to run and ask ... but you see I don't have to ask anybody ... I have my own knowledge & experience with plumbing ~ & I pretty much trust that first

33055

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 10:05 am

greenfire wrote:

Squishy wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

greenfire wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

My dh works in the plumbing business so he wouldn't do this if it would damage the toilet pipes or clog it (although occasionally he gets lazy, don't we all Wink

Oy my mistake obviously we let it cool first. Hot oil stays in the pot on the side until it is cold (not congealed).
Sorry!!

My DH totally agrees with CC's DH. Without getting too specific, my DH has major credentials and three decades experience in the field. We have never had any problem doing what CC's DH does.

I'm glad you both have dh's to run and ask ... but you see I don't have to ask anybody ... I have my own knowledge & experience with plumbing ~ & I pretty much trust that first

I admire your self sufficiency.

DH says that grease doesn't stick to plastic pipes which could be a reason why we have different experiences as far a flushing food down the toilet.

bamamama

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 11:14 am

Squishy wrote:

greenfire wrote:

Squishy wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

greenfire wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

My dh works in the plumbing business so he wouldn't do this if it would damage the toilet pipes or clog it (although occasionally he gets lazy, don't we all Wink

Oy my mistake obviously we let it cool first. Hot oil stays in the pot on the side until it is cold (not congealed).
Sorry!!

My DH totally agrees with CC's DH. Without getting too specific, my DH has major credentials and three decades experience in the field. We have never had any problem doing what CC's DH does.

I'm glad you both have dh's to run and ask ... but you see I don't have to ask anybody ... I have my own knowledge & experience with plumbing ~ & I pretty much trust that first

I admire your self sufficiency.

DH says that grease doesn't stick to plastic pipes which could be a reason why we have different experiences as far a flushing food down the toilet.

Not true. I've had to unclog grease from the plastic pipes under my sink.

I'm floored that the cities where you guys live don't have mandatory recycling and a municipal composting program!!

33055

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 12:17 pm

bamamama wrote:

Squishy wrote:

greenfire wrote:

Squishy wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

greenfire wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

My dh works in the plumbing business so he wouldn't do this if it would damage the toilet pipes or clog it (although occasionally he gets lazy, don't we all Wink

Oy my mistake obviously we let it cool first. Hot oil stays in the pot on the side until it is cold (not congealed).
Sorry!!

My DH totally agrees with CC's DH. Without getting too specific, my DH has major credentials and three decades experience in the field. We have never had any problem doing what CC's DH does.

I'm glad you both have dh's to run and ask ... but you see I don't have to ask anybody ... I have my own knowledge & experience with plumbing ~ & I pretty much trust that first

I admire your self sufficiency.

DH says that grease doesn't stick to plastic pipes which could be a reason why we have different experiences as far a flushing food down the toilet.

Not true. I've had to unclog grease from the plastic pipes under my sink.

I'm floored that the cities where you guys live don't have mandatory recycling and a municipal composting program!!

I was only talking about toilets and not sinks.

I don't even have an optional recycling program where I live.

FranticFrummie

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 8:31 pm

For those who's DH is a plumber, all I can is that encouraging people to flush food waste must be really good for business.

Having remodeled and flipped several houses in my day, I have a good deal of experience with plumbing myself. I can tell you that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of service calls to fix the problem you caused with sheer laziness.

On the other hand, if you like pouring money down the drain, at least you're keeping plumbers employed and contributing to the economy!