Can I still use my garbage disposal under Sacramento’s upcoming food waste program?

After The Bee wrote about the cost and logistics of the new food waste program, readers wrote to us with another pressing question: Can I still use my garbage disposal for food waste?

Short answer: Yes — but don’t.

When the program starts in July, the city is asking residents to recycle their food waste alongside yard waste instead of putting it down the drain.

Jesa David, a spokeswoman for Sacramento’s Recycling and Solid Waste Division, said while there is no way to regulate this, the division wants residents to follow the new recycling standards.

“I understand with the garbage disposal that would be going somewhere else. But a lot of the items that we’ll be putting in our food waste recycling are ones that would be going into the garbage anyway,” she said.

How does a garbage disposal work, exactly?

When you place food waste into the garbage disposal, the disposal grinds the food waste and it is carried through the sewer system.

Then it’ll head to a wastewater treatment plant.

Instead, you’ll mix your organic waste material with your yard waste.

And if you receive trash service from the city, don’t mix in your food waste with your yard waste until notified because when the program starts, the city will use a more intensive process to break down organic waste into compost and conserve water.

But what about rodents?

To eliminate or decrease pests and odors, use a compostable bag or layer the food waste with yard trimmings or food-soiled paper. You can also store food scraps in the freezer or refrigerator and wait to put them in the yard waste container until the night before collection.

Residents who don’t have a yard waste container will be given an approximately 32 gallon food waste container to their residence a couple weeks before the program begins, according to the city’s at-home organic waste page.

Essentially, it shouldn’t be an issue. David said most of the waste being recycled would have been in a trash bin previously.

Residents will be able to put food waste and organic waste in their yard waste container, including:

• Eggshells
• Meat shells
• Fruit and vegetable scraps
• Meat
• Dairy
• Bones
• Rotting food
• Yard trimmings
• Green material
• Landscape and pruning waste
• Clean lumber and wood

State law prohibits putting organic waste in the trash or mixed recycling can, according to Cal Recycle.

Here’s what materials the city doesn’t accept:

• Textiles
• Carpet
• Manure and pet waste

The city is still developing the program. Additional details will be communicated before it’s rolled out this summer.

This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 5:00 AM.