Insinkerator - yay or nay?

[iwantabreakfastpantry]

I keep reading mixed things about insinkerators, particularly wrt the environment. We hate emptying our food waste bin and we don’t have a compost so we were hoping this would be a good solution.
Advice welcome

No way. They use huge amounts of water, and you are effectively putting food waste into the sewer system, which is very much not ideal. Our local council food waste collection is used to create biogas.

I love mine.

I believe some places offer tax discounts hikes that have one. There’s the reduction in carbon from fuels to collect food waste if enough people do (and no electricity isn’t a clean fuel if you track back, even if your bun lorries are electric). Water use increase is negligible. This is an interesting read: https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/potential-food-waste-disp-077.pdf

It’s also efficient system and stops rotting food sitting around at home attracting vermin, or just smelling.

I wouldn’t be without one. No more worries about DH and DC trying to rinse too much dregs from soup, cereal, etc. down the sink. No more slop leaking from the bins.

Yay. You'll wonder how you ever managed without it.

Does anyone have one and also on a septic tank? We have one but I don't use it much because of the septic tank, but logically maybe it would enrich the bacteria in the tank which is what breaks down the yucky stuff?

We’ve got one, I like it a lot however we don’t put masses of food down it, just bits that get into the sink.
dont put stodgy carbs down it, they block quite easily.
lovely when you put citrus rind down tho, smells Devine

No. Noisy, feels dangerous with kids, and whilst it doesn't block itself, the mashed up slop does block a standard 90 degree turn waste pipe fitting a bit further along the run

I love mine, between DH, the dog, wood burner and compost ( which copes with chicken bones ddog is not allowed) we have zero food waste/ peelings etc going into the rubbish.

Go for the best you can afford.

Well worth it and if fitting yourself it’s advisable to have 4 hands available as holding the heavy part and twisting it into place is nigh on impossible alone. I wouldn’t be without one now.

There was one in our house when we moved in in 2003 and I had another one installed when I redid the kitchen.

And then, before food waste bins were a thing, our council sent round a leaflet with the rubbish/recycling calendar encouraging anyone with one to use one.

We now have food waste bins. I use the bin mostly and the insinkerator for rinsing dishes, very small food scraps. Say I was peeling potatoes then I’d put the peel in the food waste. I wouldn’t be without it though.

Major yay from me. One of the first things I installed when I moved house last year. No revolting food waste bin taking up space on the worktop, no stinky food mouldering in bins attracting foxes, etc. I wouldn't be without one!

I loved mine in my last two houses, now I no longer have one and I very much miss it. I hate the smelly food bin even though I empty it daily.

The rat man aka pest control officer showed me a map of London with the rat population density overlaid. The highest were all posh postcodes with water disposal sinks.

Rat soup, he said.

I am the same as @Brendabigbaps I don't use it for big amounts of food but everything that ends up in the sink like toaster crumbs, rinsing and wiping off the chopping board, dregs of cereal, tea bags etc. I only run the water through it when I am using water ie for rinsing after hand washing something like a nutribullet.

A modern Insinkerator is not noisy, has no blades and grinds food to tiny pieces. My dishwasher waste is attached to the waste disposal unit too so it gets rinsed every night through that. I clean mine with ice cubes and lemon peel.

A definition Yay, we still compost but all the bits go down the sink, glad we went with it.

Another yay! We had one in our old house and it was one of the first alterations we made when we moved. I wouldn’t be without one.

Barely use ours (came with the house) and I definitely wouldn't bother again. So much that you can't put down it - you'll still need your food bin.

Erm, fatbergs in the making. Really bad for the environment. No water company gives discounts for you creating waste. They should be banned!

Lots of countries ban them or are planning to as the sewage system can’t cope. I assume they are pretty bad for our sewage system too given lots of it is Victorian and we know we have issues with fatbergs etc.

In laws had one.

It positively stank.

They got rid of it after endless breakdowns and manual clearing.

Uses too much water too.

To those who complain of smelly caddies... why are you leaving it hanging around?
We have a compost caddy with a charcoal filter. No smells at all. Emptied every day.

Hated mine, never felt comfortable with kids around, smelt in the summer, never again.

Love it, had mine for years, never any issues.

I cannot get on with the food composting. We are in a three week rotation and the foxes and now the rooms know how to get in the boxes.

I thought they were really bad?

I’d love one.

Eveey house we have ever rented in the US has had one, not sure why they’re so unusual here. I also want one of those taps with the pull out hose. I’ve just been Googling one that suits a boiling water tank.

We compost our veg/fruit waste for our own garden. I never put fat down a drain, ever. I grew up with sceptic tanks, so I am very careful with drains. I still appreciate having the insinkerator. We’ve never had a smell problem or a blocked drain from it. The neighbors flushing wet wipes down a shared drain is another matter entirely!

It's a yes from me. Saves the bin smelling, we put less in the rubbish.