How to Clean a Garbage Disposal and Get Rid of the Smell

To clean a garbage disposal, cut the power, scrub the underside of the rubber splash guard with baking soda and warm water, then restore power and flush the unit with a sink of warm water and baking soda. Finish by grinding a few ice cubes or citrus wedges with cool water running. Nearly every disposal smell starts on the splash guard and the upper lip of the grinding chamber, so that is where most of the work goes. Never put your hand inside the unit, and never pour chemical drain cleaner into it.

Before you start: power off, hands out

Treat the disposal as a machine, not a drain. Moen’s guidance is to unplug the unit under the sink, or switch it off at the breaker if it is hardwired, before you touch the splash guard. A wall switch alone is too easy to bump. Both Moen and InSinkErator say never to put your hand into the disposal. If something has fallen in, fish it out with tongs or needle-nose pliers with the power off.

What you need:

• Baking soda
• A long-handled dish brush or an old toothbrush
• A sink stopper
• A tray of ice cubes
• A lemon or orange cut into wedges (optional)
• Rubber gloves and a flashlight

How to clean a garbage disposal, step by step

1. Cut the power. Unplug the unit or turn off its breaker, then try the wall switch to confirm nothing happens.
2. Clean the splash guard. This is the rubber flap ring in the sink opening, also called the baffle. On some models it pulls straight out: Moen notes its splash guards lift out once the power is off and are dishwasher safe, and InSinkErator’s Evolution series has a removable baffle. If yours comes out, scrub it at the counter and rinse it. If it is fixed in place, fold the flaps up with your brush and scrub the underside with a paste of baking soda and a little warm water. Shine a flashlight in: the dark film on the underside is usually the smell.
3. Scrub the upper lip of the chamber. InSinkErator points to the inside upper lip of the grinding chamber as the other place food collects. Work around it with the brush, never your fingers, then rinse with a cup of warm water.
4. Reinstall the splash guard and restore power.
5. Flush with baking soda water. InSinkErator’s method: put the stopper in, fill the sink about halfway with warm water, and stir in about a quarter cup of baking soda. Turn the disposal on and pull the stopper at the same time, so the rush of water carries loosened particles through the unit and the drain.
6. Finish with ice or citrus. With cool water running, feed in a handful of ice cubes. InSinkErator says ice helps clean the grinding components, though it often melts before it reaches the whole chamber, which is why it is a finishing step rather than the main cleaning. Then, if you like, feed in citrus wedges one at a time for a fresher smell.

Why does my garbage disposal smell?

A smelly disposal almost always means food residue is sitting somewhere water does not reach. InSinkErator attributes odor mainly to buildup caused by too little water during and after grinding, with particles collecting in the grind chamber and on the baffle. Moen adds a first check: make sure the sink is actually draining well. If water sits in the basin or drains slowly, cleaning the splash guard will only help for a day or two, because the source is further down the line.

If the smell comes back within a few days of a full cleaning, look at habits before products. Grinding with a trickle of water, or switching off the water the moment the grinding stops, leaves a film behind every time.

What not to put in a garbage disposal (including cleaners)

• Chemical drain cleaners and lye. Moen is direct about this: never put them in a disposal. They corrode the metal parts, and Moen says the damage voids the warranty.
• Mixed cleaners. Do not combine products in the disposal or the drain, and never mix bleach with ammonia or acids. Baking soda and plain water do the job here without any risk.
• Fats, oils and grease. InSinkErator says to keep them out of the disposal and every other drain because they build up in plumbing pipes. The City of San Diego puts it plainly: home garbage disposals do not keep grease out of the plumbing system.
• Big loads all at once. Feed scraps in gradually with the unit already running. InSinkErator notes that coffee grounds and eggshells will not hurt the disposal itself but can clog household plumbing in large amounts, so add them slowly with a strong flow of cold water.

Daily habits that keep it from smelling

InSinkErator’s routine is simple: start a steady stream of cool water before you switch the disposal on, add food gradually, and let the water run for a few seconds after the grinding sound changes so the drain pipe clears.

Holiday cooking is when most disposals get overloaded. The City of San Diego’s holiday guidance is to wipe greasy pots and dishes with a disposable towel before washing, keep a strainer in the drain to catch scraps like meat trimmings, and pour small amounts of cooled cooking oil into a non-recyclable container for the trash. Grease and oil are not allowed in the city’s green organics bins. If you live outside the City of San Diego, check your own waste hauler’s rules for food scraps and grease.

If you are getting the kitchen ready for guests, the same grease ends up on the stovetop, the oven and the range hood. Our guides to cleaning a stovetop and degreasing a range hood filter cover those, and the dishwasher guide covers the filter where kitchen scraps collect next door. Once the disposal is fresh, finish with the basin itself: our guide to cleaning a stainless steel sink covers water spots, rust-colored marks and what never to use on the finish.

How often should you clean a garbage disposal?

We have not found a manufacturer that sets a schedule, so here is our rule of thumb. Grind a few ice cubes with cool water once a week, and do the full splash-guard scrub and baking soda flush whenever you notice an odor, or roughly once a month in a kitchen that cooks every day. Clean it again after a big holiday meal.

When to stop and call a plumber

Cleaning fixes smells. It does not fix mechanical problems. Call a plumber or the manufacturer’s support line if the disposal hums but does not spin, trips its reset repeatedly, leaks underneath the sink, or the sink keeps draining slowly after a full cleaning. Many units have a reset button on the bottom; your owner’s manual explains how to use it safely. We are cleaners, not plumbers, so repairs and unclogging pipes are outside what we do.

On our recurring cleaning visits, our Vetted Cleaning Professionals scrub and wash the sink and clean the backsplash. The disposal’s splash guard and grinding chamber are not part of our cleaning checklists, so this one stays on your list. It takes about ten minutes.