In light of Raleigh’s new ordinance, in effect this coming Monday (March 17th), if you are building a home, renovating your home or simply repairing your kitchen, don’t bother to look into a garbage disposal for your sink.  Apparently, Raleigh’s making another effort to save our water supply.

I have no doubt that you’ve already heard about the ban, but have you heard the discussion ensuing?

My buddy Doug (Raleigh Native Review) is amidst his own home renewal project, and he’s not real thrilled about the ordinance.  He’s dead on:  Raleigh’s not joking with this ordinance:

The fine is absolutely ridiculous! It’s not $100… nor is it $500… even something as steep as $1000 would be excessive but Raleigh City Council has decided that a fine, in the amount of $25,000, is just the right number.

And if you think that is ridiculous… it doesn’t stop there. The fine is per day! So if you are caught with a new, or repaired, disposal in your home for 31 days… your fine will be a whopping $775,000… At that price you could buy an obnoxious ITB tear-down rebuild!

Further, both Carl and Katy totally see this trend spreading beyond Mayor Meeker’s boundaries.  Katy’s obviously gung-ho flat out against what she obviously views as liberal 1984-style home-monitoring, while Carl seems to be more like me… interested but without a definitive standpoint.

The penalty ($25k a day) seems to be the big reason to disagree with the ordinance, as well as the feeling that politics are dictating our home life and buy choices (but aren’t they always?). 

On the flip, Carl points out

banning garbage disposals will increase the use of plastic bags going to land fills, as Americans don’t want to put garbage in their kitchen trash cans without a plastic bag..so much for keeping the environment clean.

But what else is there to this story?

GogoRaleigh seems to have the most comprehensive explanation of the turmoil (the comments make for great convo):

The city has put ourselves into great sanitation risks. With once-a-week garage pickup, biodegradable waste sits in containers festering with bacteria, especially in warm months.

Seriously?  I lived sans garbage disposal for 25 or so years.  I can honestly say that *somehow* I didn’t live in squallor, we didn’t have swarms of flies or insects, I didn’t have to use an outhouse, I showered daily, the house was clean, and disease and bacteria and uncleanliness were NOT issues.  In fact, we had no garbage disposal and no air conditioning (not to mention walking to school five miles barefoot in the snow) and STILL didn’t have any gross, smelly or hazardous situations.  It’s simple.  Put the trash in a bag (sadly, likely a plastic one) and tie it closed.  Done. 

Then RaleighRob posts in the comments section of GoGoRaleigh:

I grew up learning that you throw food scraps in the trash (or nowadays…compost it). Garbage disposers were primarily for when you rinsed off little bits of food still stuck to the dishes, and wanted to make sure it all got down through.  If everyone still used their disposers in that manner, then this issue probably would have never come up. But it’s amazing the number of people who use it as a trash receptacle and throw potato peelings, vegetable scraps and Lord knows what else down there! Basically, some bad apples have ruined it for everyone else.

Exactly RaleighRob!  Isn’t that how they work?  I think we might be in the minority in thinking that, though. 

But here’s my ultimate thought:  I don’t really get how grease is the city’s reason for banning disposals and disposal repair. 

Likewise, after having not had one for most of my life ~ as well as now having one and realizing they really aren’t meant for food to be flushed away in anyhow (and consequently finding my current one much more a hinderance than a help), I don’t really get people’s attachment for wanting one at all.  I would love to hear why people like them so much, so help me out.

As far as the ban?  The city is attacking a symptom instead of the actual issue.  Education as to water reduction and proper disposal is needed.

…which reminds me, I am appalled that Mayor Meeker has been referred to (by the two most conservative, outspoken critics mentioned above) as a “treehugging” liberal.  Just because he wants grease out of water doesn’t make him an environmentalist, and I think we all agree that banning disposals won’t keep grease out of the drains, so the ban isn’t “hippy” or “green”, though it will save Raleigh in water use (which Katy touches on too).

I personally don’t like garbage disposals.  Not because my own tree-hugging quotient, but primarily because I only use it as I would a regular sink (scraps in the trash, rinse off the dish).  It serves me no purpose except for small utensils to drop into and stink to call home.  The only things I grind are lemon rinds and ice, and that’s to kill the aforementioned stink that disposals inevitably grows.

Back to the big picture.  Maybe I’m just not seeing something, putting me back to my initial question: 

What else is there to this story?

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 2:53 pm and is filed under ...disposable, ...drought, The Triangle, building, cooking, health, recycling, reduce, water. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.