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19
2007
Is the use of garburators environmentally friendly?
Filed in: Composting, Energy, Water ConservationReader Question
Hello,
Is the use of garburators environmentally friendly?
Cathy
Ashley's Answer
Hello Cathy,
Many people swear by the use of garburators, otherwise known as garbage disposal systems, to deal with their kitchen waste. Garburators, however, are not environmentally friendly. Garburators require considerable amounts of water to operate properly and they can overload the sewer lines and treatment plants with solids, leading to increased chemical usage for treatment, while putting strain on the treatment facilities themselves. This has a negative impact on the aquatic environment, while the increased energy used to deal with additional waste is detrimental to our air quality and adds to our climate change problems. Also, once the kitchen debris you loaded into your garburator is screened out at the treatment facility it gets trucked to the landfill anyway.
The environmentally friendly choice would be to compost your household’s organic waste, which includes your kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, dryer lint and yard waste. Composting is easy and you can get started without much effort. Clean Calgary Association sells compost bins at our EcoStore (809 4th Ave SW) for $25 and offers composting workshops to get people started. Our website http://www.cleancalgary.org provides further information on composting.
Have a great day,
Ashley
Ashley Lubyk, BSc. in Environmental Science, is the founder of the Healthy Homes program at Green Calgary. Please send your environmental questions to Ashley.