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Managing Kitchen Waste at the Source
May 7, 2024
The kitchen generates a huge amount of organic and dry waste
The issue of managing household waste is becoming more complex with levels of waste, landfill, recycling and waste separation issues. The modern kitchen design does involve waste management but often only at a superficial level by way of bins only.
Food waste disposers are the ultimate kitchen convenience. Mounted discreetly beneath your sink, a sink food disposal system will effortlessly grind down and dispose of most of your food waste – up to and including small bones. The resulting tiny particles are automatically flushed away down the kitchen drain.
The separate collection of organic waste prevents biodegradable matter from ending up in landfills indiscriminately and local governments are waking up to this issue, thereby pushing towards better design, accessories and appliances regarding waste collection in the kitchen area.
There are two appliance options for reducing and managing kitchen waste - installing either a garbage disposal unit or a waste compactor right into the kitchen. Though they are often referred to by similar names, they are two totally different appliances with their own distinct operating functions.
Kitchen waste management is simple to implement and could save business time, money and resources, whilst also benefiting the environment from eco-friendly recycling. Photo Courtesy: Freepik
Often called a food waste disposer but more commonly known as a garbage disposal unit, it is a small grinding system that works unnoticed under the sink to crush foods that go down the drain.
Food waste accounts for around one-fifth of all rubbish. The most well-designed kitchen can appear bad if proper systems are not in place for waste disposal. Food waste disposers quickly and efficiently remove all food waste from the kitchen bin. They are fast, economical and quite practical since they are mounted discreetly beneath the kitchen sink. Actually, it is a very useful kitchen appliance that is still not as popular in many Indian kitchens simply due to a lack of proper information.
A food waste disposer really does make a difference to a kitchen’s green status. About 20% of a household’s waste is food, and most of it ends up via the bin in landfills or worse, in dhalaos in many urban areas which adds to the problem of sanitation. In stark contrast, food waste that has passed through a disposer can be recycled by wastewater treatment plants to form ‘soil conditioner’, a form of fertilizer, or biogas. In residential blocks, colonizers and developers can use this as a value add-on to underline the green status of their projects.
Food waste disposers are quite economical to use, requiring a very short run time, and their energy and water use is minimal. Photo Courtesy: Freepik
In bigger kitchens too
In every kitchen, there is waste that must be recycled; waste that can be hazardous and waste that must be stored in a certain way.
Every institution with a large kitchen has a legal duty to manage the waste that their business produces suitably and sufficiently. Kitchen waste management is simple to implement and could save business time, money and resources, whilst also benefiting the environment from eco-friendly recycling. Since such measures will soon become a legal injunction it is wise to be better prepared. However, it is not due to legal stipulations that such measures should be put in place but because it is simply so good for an efficient kitchen functioning.
Kitchen produces a variety of waste which will require different disposal methods, such as recycling for cardboard, glass and even plastic waste. However, food waste remains the most neglected aspect in Indian kitchens- even the very expensive ones.
The kitchen produces a variety of waste which will require different disposal methods, such as cardboard, glass and plastic waste, besides food waste. Photo Courtesy: Freepik
Food waste disposer was invented by American architect John H Hammes in Racine, Wisconsin in 1928. Hammes came up with the idea in his basement because he wanted to make kitchen cleanup work easier for his wife - he wanted to solve the one major inconvenience of a kitchen, disposing of scraps of food.
Eleven years of testing and development followed the creation of Hammes' initial disposal unit. As the years went on, he made different models and tried them out in his own kitchen sink. By 1935 Hammes had perfected and patented the appliance which operates on the principle of centrifugal force to pulverize food waste against a stationary grind ring so it would easily flush down the drain. In 1938, he established a company which is now the largest manufacturer of food waste disposers. By the late 1950s, they became an integral part of the modern American kitchen and are now used widely in homes in that country. In some major cities, their use is mandatory as part of an overall environmental program.
In India, it is yet to become popular and often even high-value kitchens also do not have this simple device that can go such a long way in managing waste.
How it works?
They are installed beneath sinks to separate food waste at the source and grind it in order that it can be treated via the wastewater collection and treatment system and are an alternative to disposing of food waste with solid waste. Food waste disposers can be easily fitted under the kitchen sink. They quickly and simply grind kitchen food waste into miniscule particles (less than 2mm) and flush them into the waste water system, to be treated with the rest of the sewage. Driven by electric motors, they are easy and safe to use.
The grinding mechanism has no knives or blades. Instead, impellers mounted on a spinning plate use centrifugal force to continuously force food waste particles against a stationary grind ring. The grind ring breaks down the food waste into very fine particles - virtually liquefying them. Once they are ground the running water flushes the particles through the grind ring into the wastewater pipe.
In every kitchen, there is waste that must be recycled; waste that can be hazardous and waste that must be stored in a certain way. Photo Courtesy: Freepik
Economical & energy efficient
Food waste disposers are quite economical to use, requiring a very short run time, and their energy and water use is minimal.
The functioning of the disposer is as simple as that! The device is fitted permanently below the kitchen sink and the outlets are connected with the regular drainage system. To get all kitchen waste cleared the smart way, the user just has to open the tap, turn on the device and feed the entire kitchen waste into the device.
It consumes very minimal units of power- just 1 unit of power per month for crushing food wastes obtained in an average family of 6 members. For 1 kg of food waste, the water supply required is approximately 1.5 litres. This volume of water required may be a part of the total water supply used for cleaning dishes.
Thus, it is evident that a well-designed kitchen is known by what lies beneath the sink as much as what lies on top of it.
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