Ask the Eco Geek: Garburators

My daughter just bought a home in North Toronto and it has a garburator. A friend told me they are not legal in the city. Why? What's the deal?
Dr. Ron Allan

All the rage in the '70s and '80s, garburators or in-sink disposal units, with their jagged metal teeth and distinctive, fear-inducing mechanical noises, are designed to mulch organics. The waste is flushed through the sewer system and last night's overcooked mushroom risotto eventually arrives at a sewage plant, where it is separated from the waste water along with the rest of the solid waste (including human) produced by the city. On busy days, about 15 to 20 trucks filled with the resulting bio-solids drive from Toronto to Michigan, where the waste is landfilled.

Toronto's policy on in-sinkerators is as gray as the bio-solids they produce. "We don't encourage them or discourage them," a city bureaucrat told me definitively. It turns out the city has two rules in place, depending on whether your home flushes into a single pipe, where storm water and sanitary waste mix, or two separate pipes. In areas with combined sewers -- typically older neighbourhoods -- garburators are prohibited, while in newer areas serviced by two pipes, the units are legal. To find out which service your home has contact Toronto Water at 416-392-4546 or askwater@toronto.ca.

If the city's approach seems a little complex, environmentalists find the answer clear: don't use them. Garburators increase the load on the sewage system and, ultimately, add to the number of trucks travelling to Michigan. And sink disposal units handle the same biodegradables that can be composted and that Toronto's Green Bin program now accepts. Apartment-dwellers, note: the Green Bin wet-waste recycling program will be extended to all apartments within five years.

Got a pressing environmental question? Ask Steve Bearton, journalist, environmental advocate and the Eco Geek!