Down the drain

For the first time in my life I live in a place with an in sink garbage disposal. I can take my food scraps, run the water and have them magically ground and sent through the sewer pipes to the wastewater treatment plant. There are enormous potential for resource recovery at these facilities. Here I am referring to both the potential energy in the food scraps and the nutrients and carbon that can be returned to the soil (to grow more food). And much of that potential is being realized. However, most of that recovery happens at the end of the treatment train. Putting your scraps into the sink and expecting their value to be realized at the end of the pipe is in many ways a pipe dream. It sounds good on paper but there are a number of factors that make the reality very different from the concept. Here are a few. The first reality is the fact that if I take a significant portion of my food scraps and put them down the drain I will have a backed up sink and a busted disposal unit. I would not recommend you try one of those things on avocado pits, chicken bones or even too much left over pasta. Sour chocolate milk is one thing; high solids and/or heavy solids and grease are a whole different ball game. If you change your perspective from what is good for your sink to what is good for the planet, you also realize that this convenience should be used as a back up plan rather than as your first defense. From your sink your scraps make the long journey to the wastewater plant t...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news