Here’s How Often You Should Be Cleaning Your Dishwasher Disposal

When my kitchen starts to smell, I check a few key spots to figure it out. If the trash and fridge aren’t stinky, my garbage disposal is often the culprit. It’s convenient to send food bits down the drain when I’m doing dishes, but if that residue doesn’t make it all the way through the disposal, it can start to stink—not to mention compromise the disposal’s efficiency.

I tackle the garbage disposal whenever I notice it starts to smell, but I’ve also wondered if I should be performing routine maintenance to prevent those unwanted odors in the first place. I did a little digging to find out how often, exactly, I should be cleaning out my disposal.

How Often To Clean Your Garbage Disposal 

There’s no hard-and-fast rule for how often to clean your garbage disposal. Affresh, a brand that sells tablets that clean garbage disposals, recommends monthly maintenance, as does the professional cleaning company Merry Maids. Yet Consumer Reports suggests cleaning your garbage disposal more frequently, ideally once a week, if you use it daily.

My takeaway? It depends on some subjective factors, like how often you use it and what you put down the disposal. If your main goal is to keep things smelling good, you might be able to get away with once a month, or once every few weeks. But if you really want to stay on top of things and keep your disposal in tip-top shape, then every week might be a good idea (especially if you use it a lot). 

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The Best Way To Clean a Garbage Disposal 

There are lots of effective ways to refresh a garbage disposal. No matter which method you go with, the goal should be to remove food residue from the disposal, which prevents bacteria buildup (and as a result, gross odors). In a pinch, you can throw a dishwasher tablet down the drain while running hot water with the disposal running, or even squirt some dish soap in the disposal.

For a more thorough clean, use ice cubes and rock salt. Fill the drain with two cups of ice, and then dump a cup or so of salt down the drain on top of them. Turn on the cold water and run the disposal. The ice knocks off food residue from inside the disposal, and the salt makes the mixture colder so the ice can do its job effectively. Salt can also neutralize unwanted smells.

If your disposal still stinks after you clean it, you can toss a few lemon wedges down the drain with the disposal running. Citrus cuts through grime, and it’s a great deodorizer.