The holiday season is a heavy-duty time for your garbage disposal. Full of large feasts, special dinners, and all-around big meals, disposals across Chicago and Northwest Indiana are put to work.

As great as garbage disposals may be, certain items should never be put through them. Metal kitchen utensils, silverware, and diamond engagement rings are obvious examples, but there is also plenty of common kitchen waste that can damage the blades.

Let’s take a look at the top five unexpected items that should never be put down at garbage disposal.

Rice and Pasta

If you’ve ever made mac & cheese or fried rice for dinner, you know that rice and pasta both expand while cooking by absorbing water. When you put these items down the garbage disposal, the periodic flow of water from your sink can cause these foods to keep expanding until they clog the disposal.

Egg Shells

Most of us are probably guilty of tossing eggshells down the garbage disposal. It’s so easy, after all. While it seems like the perfect way to get rid of them, the fibers in egg shells can wrap around the blades and cause them to become dull.

Trash

Despite its name, your garbage disposal is not designed to dispose of trash. Paper, cigarette butts, wrappers, and chewed gum should all go in your garbage can or recycling bin instead.

Animal Bones

Fried chicken and baby back ribs are delicious, but the bones left behind should not be put down the garbage disposal. Though tiny, they are most likely too hard and strong for your disposal to properly handle.

Fruit Pits

Peaches, plums, avocados, and any other fruit (yes, avocado is a fruit) with pits should be placed in the trash or your compost bin. Like bones, they will not be cracked by the blades and will instead bounce around and potentially damage your garbage disposal.

Everyone makes mistakes from time to time. Even knowing the hazards above, it is easy for an eggshell to find its way to your garbage disposal. In the event your garbage disposal does become damaged, contact one of our licensed Four Seasons plumbers for 24/7 repairs or replacements.