Sink Waste Disposal Installation

Waste Disposal Unit Installation Auckland

One of the most common and useful kitchen appliances is the waste disposal unit. It’s also known as a food disposal unit, waste disposer, or InSinkErator®. Installing waste disposal units are part of our regular work at Sumich Plumbing & Drainage. Often, when we’re called out to look at an issue with a kitchen sink, it’s really a problem with the waste disposer that we’re addressing.

How to use a waste disposal unit properly?

You shouldn’t just put anything and everything down the sink. There is a lot that goes down the sink that instead should be put in the rubbish bin, recycling, and even the compost bin.

To put it simply, if something is biodegradable or dissolvable in water, then it’s probably safe to put down the waste disposal unit. This includes most types of food waste. Like anything, though, there are a few exceptions.

What should you avoid putting down the sink?

• food wrappers, plastic, aluminium foil, wax/baking paper
• serviettes, paper towels (while they are paper-based, many of them are treated with other substances or are too thick to be put in the waste water system)
• cigarettes or cigarette butts
• fruit stickers, tea bag strings

We also recommend taking care when putting the following down the waste disposal unit:

• egg shells, bones
• too much fibrous vegetable waste (celery, silverbeet, cabbage, etc)

Many newer models of waste disposal units will claim that it is okay to use them to dispose of chicken bones, egg shells, some types of seafood shells, stone fruit pips, and other hard food scraps. We issue a word of caution here. If your waste disposer is an older model (e.g. it was installed more than a few years ago), then it’s probably safer if you don’t put hard or “crunchy” food scraps down the sink.

The other thing we suggest you do is look under the kitchen sink and see if you can find the make and model details of your waste disposal unit. If you can, then search online to see what the product use guidelines from the manufacturer stipulate. It also pays to check if the unit is still under warranty. If you can’t find any information on it, or it’s older than a few years, we suggest you err on the side of caution when using it.

If you’re not sure how old your waste disposal unit is, whether it’s still under warranty, or what you’re safe to put down it, get in touch with us. We can talk through a few possibilities with you. Maintaining, a

And installing waste disposal units and InSinkErator® units is an area of expertise for us at Sumich Plumbing & Drainage.

Installing waste disposal units

Retail prices for the InSinkErator® brand of food waste disposers range from approximately $350 to $900, depending on the size and model. Sumich Plumbing, however, may be able to secure a trade price for you, depending on the model you’re interested in.

The Sumich Plumbing & Drainage team specialises in supplying and installing waste disposal units.

Get in touch for a no-obligation quote.

Frequently Asked Questions