DIY Tips To Disinfect Your Garbage Disposal

It is hard to imagine your kitchen without the garbage disposal. It is a great built-in tool that takes on heavy work load, pulverising and removing kitchen waste from food products. But when it comes to cleaning and maintenance, many people don’t regularly remove all the food particles trapped in the nooks and crannies. This creates the ideal environment for mold and bacteria to grow, creating unpleasant odours and unhealthy spores.

You probably won’t notice the foul smells until mold has grown for some time, but it is not too late to disinfect your garbage disposal. Here are a few tips to help keep your disposal free of unsightly mold and bacteria:

Use ice cubes to de-gunk the cutting blades

The cutting elements are the ones that handle all the hard work of the disposal. After some time, they get covered in grease, sludge, and grime from all the different food products they’ve been grinding. To clean the blades and remove odour-causing food particles, pour a handful of ice cubes and some rock salt into the disposal, turn on the cold water, and allow it to run for about a minute. The abrasive power of the ice and salt combination it enough to knock off any tough debris clinging to the blades.

Clean the drain with baking soda and vinegar

Take one half cup of baking soda and one cup white vinegar and pour them down the drain starting with the baking soda. Close of the drain by placing the drain stopper in your sink, and let the mixture fizz for a few minutes. Boil some water in a full kettle, and flush it down the drain. This will also help to eliminate any smells coming from the disposal.

Water and bleach for the drain

You can also clean the drain by adding one tablespoon of liquid chlorine bleach to a gallon of water, and then slowly and carefully pouring the mixture down the drain. Allow it to sit for a few minutes, and then flush the drain thoroughly with plenty of water. Use just enough bleach to kill germs and eliminate the odours, as excess bleach can harden any grease in your drains.

Finally, to eliminate any remaining smells, take a handful of citrus peels – lemons, oranges, grapefruits, limes, ugli, tangelos – place them into your disposal, let the cold water run, and then turn on the disposal. Let it run until all the peels have been cut down to give your disposal a clean and fresh citrus fragrance.