{"id":26727,"date":"2017-05-25T16:33:36","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T21:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=26727"},"modified":"2017-05-25T16:33:36","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T21:33:36","slug":"a-day-of-insight-on-major-environmental-topics-and-proper-garbage-disposer-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2017\/05\/a-day-of-insight-on-major-environmental-topics-and-proper-garbage-disposer-use\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day of Insight on Major Environmental Topics — and Proper Garbage Disposer Use"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sharing of thoughtful expertise on matters of great long-term importance \u2013 that was the virtue and strength of a conference at Marquette Law School on May 16. \u201cInnovation at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus\u201d brought together about 75 professionals and academic figures from across Wisconsin and the country who work in\u00a0these tightly related fields.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The day-long session, organized by David Strifling, director of the Water Law and Policy Initiative at Marquette Law School, and an organizing committee, had a broad theme of how leaders and researchers in these crucial fields could work together and stretch their vision to serve the best and broadest sense of the public good.<\/p>\n

Speakers at the event covered a variety of topics including energy recovery at wastewater treatment facilities, the importance of groundwater, ethical aspects of decisions about natural resources, and the deep links between agriculture, water, and energy. Yet for the handful of people in the audience who were less technical in their backgrounds — and for a larger audience such as this one \u2013 the most practical piece of wisdom may well have been a bit of advice on how to use a garbage disposal.<\/p>\n

In the question and answer session at the end of a panel discussion on environmental issues, one of those non-technical people in the audience (no, it wasn\u2019t me, but I had the same question on my mind) asked if it was better for the environment to put your food waste into your garbage disposer, sending it to a wastewater treatment facility, or into your garbage, sending it to a landfill. She said her garbage disposer sometimes got clogged, causing flooding in her basement, so she stopped using it.<\/p>\n

One of the panelists was Michael Keleman, manager of environmental engineering for InSinkErator, a leader in the garbage disposal field. The company is headquartered in Sturdevant, in Racine County. Not surprisingly, Keleman is partial to garbage disposer units and putting most food waste down the sink.<\/p>\n

He told the questioner, \u201cIt seems like people, when they have problems, it\u2019s probably from improper use. That\u2019s this: They\u2019ll load up the chamber or the sink and say, \u2018Oop, it\u2019s time to use the disposer, my sink\u2019s getting full, it\u2019s running over the top.\u2019 They\u2019ll turn the disposer on and then they\u2019ll turn the water on and then, as soon as they see the food and water disappear, they\u2019ll turn the water off and the disposer off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you really want to do is turn your water on first, then turn your disposer on second, and then add your food waste gradually. Let it grind until you don\u2019t hear any food waste any more. Turn the disposer off and let the water run for a few seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

So is it better to do that than throw your waste in the garbage can? Keleman said food waste is 70 to 90 percent\u00a0 water. \u201cWhy are we handling this as a solid waste?\u201d he asked. \u201cIt\u2019s not really solid any more if you\u2019re using the disposer right.\u201d Its density is about the same as water and it will be successfully transported to a treatment facility that can recover resources \u2013 including clean water and energy \u2013 from it, and simultaneously avoid land use problems.<\/p>\n

Keleman had less cheerful advice on a second matter raised by the questioner, avoiding disposing of unneeded drugs by flushing them down the toilet or sink.<\/p>\n

While saying programs to dispose of pharmaceuticals by other means are \u201cgreat,\u201d Keleman was skeptical of how much difference they make.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take in these pharmaceuticals, we excrete back over 90% of it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe bottom line is, as long as pharmacy is the way it is, we\u2019re going to excrete most of these endocrine disrupters and birth control pills, even caffeine, all the things \u2013 the pain killers, benzodiazepines. These are all things our society is taking and we\u2019re excreting. So no matter how good a job we do at take-back programs, they\u2019re still going to be this in the waste water stream.\u201c<\/p>\n

In Keleman\u2019s accounting, score one for proper use of a garbage disposer. And do what you can about disposing of drugs \u2013 but don\u2019t have illusions about I in a society where drug use is so extensive.<\/p>\n

To read the program for the conference, click here.<\/a> To watch video of the entire conference, click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/a>The exchange with Keleman starts at 5 hours and 14 minutes into the video.\u00a0\u00a0##<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sharing of thoughtful expertise on matters of great long-term importance \u2013 that was the virtue and strength of a conference at Marquette Law School on May 16. \u201cInnovation at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus\u201d brought together about 75 professionals and academic figures from across Wisconsin and the country who work in\u00a0these tightly related fields.\u00a0 The day-long 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