Imagine this: you’ve scrubbed your kitchen from top to bottom, but there is still a lingering stench. You open up your trash compactor…no, that’s not it, you think to yourself. An unpleasant experience, you follow your nose and find that is leads you to the sink. You’ve combated a smelly refrigerator before, but what about a death-by-stink garbage disposal? It doesn’t matter how clean your kitchen is, a lingering odor from your sink doesn’t make your kitchen feel sparkly clean as it should. The culprit of the smell? Food particles and debris get caught in your disposal, allowing bacteria to have a little fiesta inside—causing that phantom smell. Yuck! We have a few easy and natural, holistic methods that you can do today to maintain a fresh-smelling garbage disposal to help keep the odor away.
Clean & Sanitize the Germs Away Take about 3 tablespoons of Borax and pour it down your drain. Allow the Borax to sit inside of your disposal for about 45 minutes or so and flush it with hot water. The combination of Borax and hot water will sanitize your garbage disposal and stop the odor-causing bacteria in their footsteps! Deodorize with Baking Soda & Vinegar Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down into your garbage disposal, followed by 1 cup of vinegar. Let the fizzy mixture sit and boil a pot of water. Once you have your boiling water, pour it into the garbage disposal. The chemical reaction from the baking soda and vinegar will loosen up the grime inside of your disposal as well as sanitize it. The boiling hot water will wash away and clean the leftover bacteria and food debris. Stop Food Debris Build-Up and Sharpen Your Blades After a while of use, the blades inside of your garbage disposal become dull. Dull blades = debris build-up. Simple and quick, place some ice cubes into your disposal and turn it on. After you have an ice slush consistency, rinse out your disposal with a small stream of cooler water. If you find that the icy water mixture is backing up into your sink, no worries as the ice will melt and drain…it just may take a little time. The ice will help sharpen your disposal blades as well as knock off any food build-up on them. Heavy Duty Tip: Make some vinegar ice cubes and toss them into your disposal along with some salt. The vinegar will sanitize your disposal as well as sharpen the blades; the salt will help “scrub” your shredding blades free of food waste and bacteria. Use Citrus Peels for a Breath of Fresh Air Don’t toss those lemon peels away! Save some money on expensive garbage disposal deodorizers and use what you have. Place some citrus peels into your disposal, run some cool water and you have yourself a fresh-smelling, citrusy garbage disposal. You should do this method once you have sanitized and have cleaned your disposal first from the above tips.
Photo by: JD Hancock | Flickr
