How to clean a garbage disposal for restaurants and hotels

As a restaurant or a hotel business owner or manager is your responsibility to make sure that your kitchen is always sparkling clean. That means your employees should never skip cleaning the sink garbage disposal. From our experience, this is the place most often forgotten in the cleaning or maintaining activities.

Avoid a smelly sink or broken garbage disposal by following these five simple cleaning steps:

  1. Stay safe and unplug the power to your garbage disposal.
  2. Remove any large piece of food, silverware or anything else that is not supposed to be at the disposal. In the process, use a pair of pliers to protect your hands from the garbage disposal’s blades.
  3. Get rid of grime, bacteria or buildup within your drains with an organic cleaning solution. Pour vinegar and baking soda, in a 2:1 ratio, into the garbage disposal and let the mixture foam sit for a few minutes.
  4. Scrub the interior of the drain with a long-handled scrubbing brush white vinegar and baking soda are still in.
  5. Finally, turn on the hot water and let it run and clear the drain for a few minutes.

In addition, in the end, you may use some lemon juice that cleans and neutralizes any remaining bad smell, while it leaves behind a fresh lemony scent!

If your garbage disposal still smells like sewage after this cleaning process, you might have a bigger problem with your sink trap or plumbing vent. Call 1st Response to provide you with a drain-clearing expert!