Garbage Disposal And Septic

The do s and don ts for using a garbage disposal with septic systems.

Garbage disposal and septic. Regular use of a garbage disposal can drastically increase the amount of waste you are pumping into the septic tank. This excess waste will never get a chance to break down in the wet environment. Don t put food macaroni veggie peels grease egg shells etc. A garbage disposal grinds food waste to easily flow through a home s plumbing and into a septic tank.

If you have bought a house with a septic system and it doesn t already have a disposal don t add one. You ve probably been told that using a garbage disposal to get rid of food waste is going to upset that delicate system. The best advice you can get is to just not use a garbage disposal with a septic system. When you use a garbage disposal with a septic tank the ground up food particles contribute to the layer of solids that is deposited on the bottom of your septic tank.

The reality is it won t. Garbage disposals are septic safe. The thing that garbage disposal manufacturers don t tell you is that you have to pump your tank at least twice as often if you use their product. Just as you should avoid sending other solids down the septic system the garbage disposal poses a problem when homeowners try to process and dispose of non biodegradable food items like food packaging items or even hard to break down foods like bones fruit pits coffee grounds or oil and grease.

Once there food scraps decompose faster than other waste sent into the tank. Down that garbage disposal. Do consider building a compost pile for all those leftover peelings coffee grounds and egg shells. Do pump out the septic tank more frequently if garbage disposal is being used heavily.