Is It Okay to Throw Old Coffee Grounds down the Garbage Disposal?

The TRICK is to never ever EVER put coffee grounds AND eggshells in the same disposal.

My parents have been putting coffee grounds down disposals for decades. They've ended up needing plumbers only 4 times in 30 years. And none of them were coffee ground related (watermain broke, sewer broke -ummmm.... who knew you couldn't flush socks with holes in them? Not this 5yo-, burst pipe in winter, and one more kid related clog. Something about gardening gel and cat litter. I take the 5th). Granted they DO degrease their pipes every 6mo. My grandparents put coffeegrounds down their disposal for MUCH longer.

Me? I grind up egg shells instead, because our dog has a thing for eggshells. He thinks they're chewing gum from heaven. He will FIND them, and then chew on them all over the house until he gets bored, leaving a little trail of tiny white "WHAT did I just step on?!? Owweeeee." sharp little shards and then a big pile of "Aaaargh."

A chemical reaction happens between egg shells and coffee grounds (forms an almost unbreakable cement, and is why old style coffee used to be 'settled' by dropping crushed eggs shells into it, they'd bond and the coffee/shell cement would sink to the bottom so you didn't have grounds in what you were drinking). My husband has put both down our disposal so many times in the first few years that I am now a whizz bang at unclogging OR replacing disposals. Seriously. I thought EVERYONE knew you don't put both down. One, or the other. Not both. Not in the same day/week.

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My brother is a plumber. He always tells me only put in the disposal what 'can' be eaten. (That means no watermelon rinds, etc.) So I would probably vote no on the coffee grounds.

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We compost them. Don't put pumpkin guts down the disposal. That WILL jam the works.

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They build up and stick on grease, you shouldnt. the worst culprit for clogging up the disposal is potato peels and too much spaghetti at one time, oh and frog bodies, I've experienced all of those ;)

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I would say no because my mom was just telling me last week that their disposal was tore up at work because someone was putting coffee grounds in there-lol! So I would vote a no on that one.

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I'm not sure but if you have a garden they are wonderful to put in your garden...

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My plumber has told me coffee grounds are a complete no-no when it comes to disposals. Better to just dump them in the garbage. It won't break the disposal but it will definitely clog the pipes. I'm living proof of that.

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I have learned from experience that there ARE a few things best not put into the disposal. Anything long and thin is one of them (carrot peels, cucumber peels, etc). I did that in an apartment once and the entire sink stopped up b/c they wrapped around and underneath the blades. Had to call maintenance and wait with a sink full of gross.

I have heard that coffee grounds can do the same thing (get jammed/packed up underneath the blades) so I am cautious about them. I tend to dump the bulk of it out in the trash or the rose garden, and then rinse the rest in the sink with the disposal RUNNING. I never just dump them in without the thing running.
So far, no problems with it.

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I put EVERYthinG in there and it hasnt broke yet. Even accidentally got rocks in there when I cleaned out the fish tank! Its still kicking!

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I don't put coffee grounds in ours.

I do. But usually when I have other stuff to put down the disposal. I don't see how something like grounds could cause it to break.
I have also put my grounds on a plant. Sort of like compost.

I have been told it will break the disposal. I do it all the time and my disposal works fine.

Take this for what you think it is worth. :)

You are better off composting them or putting them in the garbage. Garbage disposals should only be used when your sink gets clogged, not for grinding all of your food waste. I used to use mine for most of my food waste thinking I was doing the environment a favor until the pipe clogged from one end of the house to the other. The plumber that fixed the problem explained that the disposal is not intended for all scraps, and most should be either put in the garbage or composted. Many water systems cannot handle the processing sufficiently and that results in pollution of the groundwater and rivers, etc. There is a large dead zone at the end of the Mississippi River due largely to unprocessed food waste. We've since started composting and have been pleased with the beautiful soil. Coffee grounds can go on roses and be dug into your soil as well. Sorry for the soapbox. It's one of my "buttons." Good luck!

Whether or not they will break your garbage disposal, it's not the best place to dispose of coffee grounds. They are a wonderful soil conditioner/compost additive if you are a gardener, or have a neighbor who is. They will break down just fine in landfills. But in the sewage system, they are a burden at water treatment plants that must deal with them along with all the other waste before releasing wastewater into the environment.

As a rule of thumb, keep as much unneccesary waste out of the water system as possible. This includes toxic cleaners, grease, and expired medications, traces of which eventually find their way into groundwater that people with wells must drink.