10 Items Illinoisans Should Never Put Down Your Garbage Disposal

Don't try to stuff everything down the garbage disposal.

With all of the summer cookouts and dinner parties, it can be easy to just dump leftover food into the garbage disposal. It makes cleanup so much easier.

Garbage disposals can also be finicky little machines that break or get gross backups if you shove stuff into it that it doesn't like. And they're super common for our sinks to have. Stats from Consumer Reports shows that a 2020 survey of 1,000 U.S. adults found that over half of the houses in the U.S. have garbage disposals and 60% of them say that the house already had one when they moved in.

Not that you need more to do, but garbage disposals really require you to pay attention. Listen for louder-than-normal sounds, a leak, if it's taking longer to grind up garbage. If any of that happens, you can try to reset the disposal before calling a plumber. Hopefully that works.

But you can prevent that by just not sticking certain items into the garbage disposal.

If you want a garbage disposal (they do make cleanup easier, remember) Consumer Reports also reminds you to make sure your pipes can handle it, your septic tank is big enough, or if there's room for it under the sink.

So as we host parties and cookouts this summer, make your cleanup easier by remembering what you can and can't put in the garbage disposal after your guests leave.

Scroll down to see 10 things you shouldn't put in your garbage disposal!