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You may have heard, that if you rinse coffee grounds down your kitchen sink, it can alleviate unpleasant smells. Temporarily, perhaps, it might – however, what it is more likely to do is commence the process of blocking your kitchen drain! The ‘stuck’ coffee grounds will then collect smells from other materials that have been poured down the drain and you will end up with an awful smell as well as a partially (or fully) blocked drain.
Whilst tea leaves and coffee grounds are biodegradable, this does not mean you can wash them down your sink (or flush them down your toilet). Tea leaves absorb water and have a tendency to stick to the walls of a pipe. Coffee grounds clump together and sit in the bend of a pipe – both contributing towards a potential drain blockage.
If you have been rinsing tea leaves and / or coffee grounds down your kitchen sink and notice that water in the sink is becoming slow to drain, it is better to call a plumber as soon as possible then wait until the drain is fully blocked.
Can I dispose of tea leaves, tea bags & coffee grounds down the kitchen garbage disposal unit?
If you want to avoid repairs being required to your garbage disposal, then no – tea leaves, tea bags and coffee grounds should not be put through a kitchen garbage disposal system.
Tea bags are made with a fibrous material – this and the strings potentially will tangle in the disposal blades.
Any coffee grounds and tea leaves that don’t wash through the garbage disposal, will dry out and collect between the disposal blades.
Other items that should not go down your kitchen sink or garbage disposal unit!
Flour
Flour and water (or other liquids), mixed together, make a paste which can have a sticky glue consistency. This combination in your drain pipes will happily collect other debris coming through, potentially leading to a blockage.
Rice and pasta
Rice and pasta contain starch – starch continually absorbs water and expands (even if it has already been cooked). Starch products also become sticky making it a perfect drain clogging ingredient.
Fibrous foods
A kitchen garbage disposal unit can handle a lot of foods. However, it is not designed to handle highly fibrous food items such as banana peels, celery, asparagus and corn husks. These fibrous items will not only blunt the blades, but tangle around them causing the unit to stop working (along with the inevitable smell).
Eggshells
Eggshells (no matter how small you have crushed them) can cause a drain blockage. They will stick to the sides of the pipe and collect other debris coming through.
Seeds and grains
Seeds and grains take a long time to decompose and swell when mixed with liquid. So, if they collect on any other problem item (e.g. stickers from fruit and vegetables), a build-up can start to form in drains and pipes.
Stickers from fruit and vegetables
The small seemingly harmless stickers on fruits and vegetables can contribute to clogging drains and pipes (and have been known to clog the filters at water treatment plants). The adhesive that has been used to keep the sticker attached to the item of fruit or vegetable does not dissolve in water, meaning it will happily stick to the walls of drains and pipes (contributing to a blockage eventually forming).
Poultry, meat & fish bones
As well as taking a long time to break down, poultry and meat bones will blunt the blades of a kitchen garbage disposal unit. Small fish bones will get caught on any other debris that may be starting to build up in a pipe or drain, therefore contributing to a potential (or full) blockage.
Grease, fats & oils
You may think that pouring hot runny grease, fats and oil down the sink is fine as it appears to wash through. However, as it quickly cools through the pipes, it solidifies leading to a potential drain blockage.
Paint
Paint can harden when mixed with water! So whilst it is easier and more convenient to wash paint brushes out at the sink or at a garden tap drain, it is definitely not easy or convenient to remove a drain or pipe blockage that has been caused by paint that has hardened.
Kitchen paper towels
Even after putting kitchen paper towel through a garbage disposal unit, it can take almost a month to break down. In the meantime, it can be a gluggy mess where debris will add to it contributing to a blocked drain.
If you find yourself with a blocked drain (or suspect your pipes and drains may be partially blocked), please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are based in Chermside, however we have team members located throughout the Brisbane northside and southside, the Moreton Bay and Samford Valley regions, Brisbane's East, Bayside, Western suburbs, CBD and inner-city who will be able to head to your property as a matter of urgency.
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