Garbage disposals are all about conveniencein theory. Not having to scrape their dinner plates into the garbage like an animal might not seem all that crucial, but the people who have them (roughly half the homes in the U.S. have one installed) are pretty happy about that. Theres also an environmental argument in their favor, having to do with the amount of methane generated by food scraps in landfills versus treating those scraps in properly-equipped wastewater systems.In practice, however, the benefits of a garbage disposal dont go much beyond convenience, and even that is much more limited than you think, especially over the long haul. In fact, garbage disposals can cause more problems than they solve, and youre probably better off without one. Garbage disposals are finickyYes, the biggest benefit of a garbage disposal is time-savinginstead of having to scrape your dishes separately into the garbage or compost, you just scrape them into the sink, grind it all up, and get on with your day.Except, of course, you have to be careful about what you put down your garbage disposal. Garbage disposals are super finicky, and theres a long list of stuff you shouldnt put down there, including random items like eggshells and celery? Once you start listing all the things youre never supposed to put into your garbage disposal, you have to start to wonder just how convenient they actually are.(If you dont want to put your food scraps in the garbage, forget the garbage disposal and consider composting instead.)Garbage disposals require constant maintenanceGarbage disposals arent magic black holes where all your culinary and food waste sins vanish. Theyre actually pretty delicate things that require constant maintenance. They can jamand do, a lot, which can find you jamming a broom handle into your disposal at midnight after a party, cursing the day you ever installed the damn thing. In order to keep your running smoothly, the short list of things youre supposed to do on a regular basis includesSharpening the bladesCleaning the unitRunning and flushing it regularlyDeodorizingAnd thats just to keep the unit functioning. And that maintenance is worth it, because if your disposal breaks, itll cost an average of about $500-600 to replace it, and $100-$250 to repair it.Garbage disposals stress infrastructureDepending on the age of your homes plumbing and the condition of your local wastewater processing system, your garbage disposal can cause huge problems. Our countrys wastewater processing infrastructure is not exactly robust, generally speaking, which is why some municipalities prohibit garbage disposals (they were actually banned in New York City until 1997). One plumbing professionals description of the process of using your garbage disposal makes it clear why they put so much stress on both your homes plumbing and your towns resources:Imagine a giant ready-mix concrete truck filled with a slurry of sand, small rocks and water. Drop the chute and discharge this mix into a 12-inch-diameter city sewer. If you dont add a significant volume of clear water immediately after dumping the sand and gravel into the sewer pipe, the pipe will start to choke off.While some areas have wastewater systems that can handle the slurry created by garbage disposals, for many its a constant stress on the sewage and water processing systems. And theres another potential problem thats been linked to garbage disposals: Fatbergs.Because were scraping food waste into garbage disposals, fat and grease enters the wastewater, where it builds up, sort of like cholesterol in your arteries, forming clogs that eventually stop sewage flow dead. A few years ago Seattle, Washington traced sewage backups to fatbergs, and garbage disposals were determined to be one of the biggest contributors to the problem. Admittedly, this is largely due to people using their disposals improperlybut it stresses just how limited these devices really are.Garbage disposals waste waterFinally, garbage disposals waste water. Their effective operation requires wateronce the scraps are ground up, you need to flush it into your pipes, and then into the sewer system. You should be running the water before you start the disposal, and let it run until about 30 seconds after the grinding is finished.Thats all water going to waste, of courseabout 2 to 5 gallons each time you run the disposal. If youre running your disposal once a day, thats 14-35 gallons every week. We already waste about 95% of the water we use every day, and having a garbage disposal just exacerbates that problem.