When I was growing up, these seemed to be ubiquitous and I never liked them. They seemed overcomplicated for the purpose, and created a gross and smelly area under the sink that needed more cleaning.
I haven’t had one in years, as a simple sink mesh does the same job. But I don’t really know how other people are. Are under sink garbage disposals still common, and commonly actually used by people here?
I can take it or leave it. I rarely turn it on, and only if its draining slowly. I do not use it purposely for food waste, and honestly don’t know why anyone would.
I’ve had to clean out some nasty clogged pipes before that handled sink waste. Maybe if everyone saw what kind of lovely buildup accumulates nobody would use these things.
Edit: nothing like “someone is wrong on the Internet” brings all the boys to the yard. I’ll stand by my statement because I’m the one who personally snaked over 5 gallons of congealed sludge from the waste pipe in my tiny crawlspace. I didn’t live there long enough and use the disposal enough to explain it, and it wouldn’t have happened if there was no disposal to add that much solid matter over the years. So I personally don’t care if I have one or not since I do the maintenance for free, but I’ll continue to question why they’re even a thing.
Using it regularly for a few seconds when food falls in means no clogged pipes, because it breaks food waste down to a size that is easily flushed down the pipes. If you wait until it gets clogged then you are doing it wrong.
If your pipes are getting gummed up from it then you aren’t using it often enough or using enough water when you do use it. I do all my own plumbing and I’ve used mine for 6 years now without any issue. Hell, I think that sink is the only sink in my house that has never clogged.
Green Gobbler or equivalent is great for the bio waste. My family tries to stuff chicken carcasses down the damn thing, I swear.