If the funky garbage smell reaches up from the disposal to give you slap in the face every time you turn on the water, it’s time to give its teeth a good cleaning. Clean your garbage disposal with one of methods below.
There are a few ways to handle the funk. You can go with a commercial cleaner, or try to tackle it the natural way.
Commercial Cleaner
Full disclosure, it’s mostly because the act of obliterating the full package in the disposal and watching the foam volcano out of the drain is pretty darned satisfying. But it also just works really well with no fuss, no muss.
My disposer cleaner of choice is Glisten*. I like the fact that it’s not a bleach-based cleaner, it’s made with natural ingredients, it’s safe for pipes and the drain, and it’s septic safe if that matters to you. It’s also pretty inexpensive. A single clean is less than a buck. And it leaves a nice lemony smell.
The clean lasts quite a while for me. They recommend a weekly cleaning but I don’t jam a lot of stuff down the disposal. If you do it weekly, though, you would avoid the Insinkerator garbage smell in the first place. (I’m personally not great at the whole preventative thing.)
Natural Options
I didn’t include a video for these because nothing cool really happens. But they should all clear out the smell in your sink. They just aren’t quite as dramatic as the option above, they take varying amounts of time and effort, and as always, depending on the smell, your mileage may vary.
Baking Soda and Vinegar
You can clear smell from your drain with baking soda and vinegar. This is going to create the same kind of volcano you made for science class in grade school, so it has a bit of a retro appeal. It takes a little longer than the commercial cleaner route, but if you use baking soda in the freezer or fridge you could make this part of your rotation routine. When you change it in the fridge, use it in the disposer. Here’s how it works:
- Sprinkle 1/2 cup of baking soda in the disposer.
- Pour 1 cup of white vinegar on top.
- Let it bubble for 5-10 minutes.
- Rinse it down with super hot water – let the tap run for a minute or so.
Citrus Peel
Grind up lemons or other citrus peel in your disposer to make it lemony (or other citrus-y). This may not do the trick on its own though. If you already have a funk, you want to combine this with the baking soda method above. I would do the baking soda treatment, then follow it by grinding up some citrus.
Borax
As with many, many other things, Borax will clean your garbage disposer. Just pour about 3-4 tablespoons down the drain, and let it sit for about an hour. Then rinse away thoroughly with very hot water.
Bleach
You can also use bleach to disinfect your garbage disposal, but note that it will solidify any grease that’s in there. And you definitely don’t want to mix this method with the sink volcano above – bleach and vinegar are not friends. And this probably goes without saying, but keep your bleach away from ammonia, too. I would recommend the other methods over this one, but if you want to use it here’s how:
- Dilute 1 tablespoon of bleach in a gallon of water.
- Pour it down the drain and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
- Rinse completely with hot water.
As a bonus tip, grind up ice and rock salt to keep your blades sharp and to help scrape out any gunk that builds up in the disposer. It should help keep it running smoothly and hopefully a little less smelly.
Remember – a clean garbage disposal is a happy garbage disposal!
*If you buy through this link, I’ll earn a small affiliate commission for turning you on to it.