By putting an InSinkErator disposer in your kitchen, you're doing your part to help reduce a growing problem. That's because when food waste is dumped in landfills, bacteria and other harmful organisms can seep into the ground and contaminate our water.
With an InSinkErator disposer, food waste is ground into fine particles and safely flushed into your sewage system. Decades of scientific studies have shown this to be a sound ecological alternative. At wastewater treatment facilities, the food waste can be converted into useful energy, or recycled into agricultural fertilizer.
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This study examines the financial and environmental impacts of food waste disposers and finds that they provide a cost-effective, convenient and hygienic means of separating kitchen food waste at source and diverting it from landfill. The study also finds that this costs less and has a better carbon footprint than other routes.
A hierarchy of food waste management policy objectives should include reduction, reuse, and recycling, with disposal to a landfill being the least preferred strategy. Food waste is a reality, even in recognition of the best efforts to reduce or reuse. The next best environmental strategy is to recycle food waste and utilize the energy and nutrient value as a resource, while minimizing detrimental public health effects, fossil fuel consumption, and emissions in the process of recycling. EU waste management future strategy is shaped by a Landfill Directive and a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. These legal acts define three main elements: improve the soil quality, increase the recovery of organic waste in contrast to landfilling or incineration, and to improve sewage sludge quality.
In today’s world, food waste disposers can now be considered an
environmental appliance – much like EnergyStar-rated refrigerators
and laundry machines. Acknowledging the “wisdom of crowds,”
disposers are now approved for sale in over 80 countries – based on
decades of research and widespread use that support the essential role
disposers play in diverting food waste from collection trucks, landfills
and incinerators.
The life cycle analysis is a quantified comparison of total system materials, energy, costs and flows to the environment from acquiring, using and decommissioning five distinct systems currently used to manage food waste. The five systems were food waste disposal through a disposer to a wastewater treatment plant; food waste collection with municipal solid waste to a landfill, compost facility, or incineration facility; and food waste disposal through a septic system. The study was commissioned by the National Association of Heating-Plumbing-Cooling Contractors, with the intention of developing a factual database relative to the environmental and economic worth of different food waste management systems. Dr. Robert Ham of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Wisconsin was chosen to lead the study. The research was conducted by Carol Diggelmann, a graduate student and a Professor at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The four-year research project was concluded in January 1998. Significant findings were that the system using a food waste disposer with discharge through a municipal wastewater treatment plant has the lowest municipal cost; least air emissions; converts food waste to a recycled resource; is the most convenient method of food waste disposal; is the most likely method for organics source separation; and, overall, is the most friendly and sustainable food waste disposal option.
As food waste disposers were a relatively new concept in the Netherlands, this study was performed, at the request of the Dutch government, to quantify the impact of food waste loading to the Dutch sewer system. Previously, no research had been documented in the Netherlands, which analyzed the effects on the biological wastewater treatment process from the use of food waste disposers. Dr. ir. J. de Koning and Professor ir. J.H.J.M. van der Graaf from the Section of Sanitary Engineering at the Delft University of Technology conducted the study, which was concluded in July 2004. Conclusions were that the organic loading emanating from food waste disposers present negligible impacts to the sewer system or wastewater treatment facility.
The study is a compilation of five distinct, but interlinked, research projects, which examine the technical, environmental, economic, social, and microbial risk impacts of food waste disposers. A comprehensive life cycle assessment was used to compare the food waste disposer with municipal wastewater treatment system to home composting and two other systems (i.e., collection with landfilling, and collection with centralized composting). The report was completed by the Cooperative Research Centre for Waste Management and Pollution Control in December 2000. Among the conclusions were, that the home compost system had the smallest environmental impact of all categories. The food waste disposer was found to be second best for energy consumption,
global warming potential, and acidification; and fourth for toxicity and eutrophication [Note: The toxicity/eutrophication rating is skewed by the fact that the wastewater treatment plant used for study did not utilize secondary biological treatment (as per common practice) and, thus, nutrient and organic removal was not part of the treatment process]. The study also concluded that, up to a 15% disposer market penetration, the use of disposers in multi-unit buildings would have a small impact on sewage treatment and transport systems. The health risk comparison found that measured concentrations of microbiological agents were detected significantly higher in households with separate organic collection than without. However, none of the systems,
when operated efficiently, presented a significant health risk. The social impact comparison concluded that the food waste disposer and centralized composting systems were judged much more appropriate on the provision that the level of treatment would enable re-use of the waste.
Due to concerns about the impact that food waste disposers have on sewage facilities and the environment, the issue of usage has been handled with caution in Japan. For this reason, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, in cooperation with the Hokkaido government, and Town of Utanobori, designated the town as the subject area for a disposer field test, conducted over four years from 2000 through 2003. The study assessed the impacts of disposers on the sewage system, solid waste collection, the daily lives of town residents, the economy, and the environment. A sampling of the conclusions after the introduction of disposers include: no changes were noted in the amount of system water usage; almost no deposits accumulated in even
gently sloping sewer lines; no large changes were evident in the amount of foreign material and deposits discharged at pump facilities, and the frequency of cleaning did not change; no effects were observed to the quality of treated water, although waste sludge increased; about 90% of users in private housing want to continue to use disposers in the future; the popularization of disposers would cause no changes to the environmental burden; and an overall cost benefit analysis found that the convenience benefits and the cost of purchasing and installing a disposer to be an excellent value, when compared to the changes in administrative costs and disposer operation costs.
Since the 1970's, New York City had banned the use of food waste disposers in areas served by combined sewers, due to concerns of the discharge of raw sewage into receiving waters during times of extreme wet weather. However, due to positive reports of the impact of disposer loadings on wastewater treatment facilities and mounting public support, Mayor Guiliani authorized a review of the merits of the ban. Thus, the City Department of Environmental Protection conducted an independent pilot program to study the effects of rescinding the ban in combined sewer areas. The 21-month study was concluded in 1997. Due to the findings that the impact of food waste disposer discharge to the sewer system and wastewater treatment plants was de minimus, the New York City Council elected to rescind the ban. This measure was signed into law by the Mayor, effective October 11, 1997.
