It is important to understand exactly how a garbage disposer works. There is a myth that they chop food particles with a knife. There is a common misperception that disposer units use blades to chop up the waste, says Frank Bryant, vice president of marketing for In-Sink-Erator Company, of Racine, Wisconsin, the country's largest producer of kitchen sink disposers. But, the fact is, there are no blades on any of the units on the market. Instead, the food waste that enters the unit is spun around at high speed and slammed against a grind chamber, a potato grater-like cylinder. It is then pulverized into a siltlike consistency.

Bryant also clears up the issue about water usage in the disposer. An average consumer would use a disposer from 30 seconds to several minutes a day. For most efficient use, Bryant explains, you should run the water 15 seconds before introducing wastewhile the unit is runningand 15 seconds or so afterward to clear the unit.

From a waste management point of view, the garbage disposer improves the quality of life for both residents and management, explains Eve Martinez, recycling coordinator of Westchester-based Hi-Rise recycling. Martinez, who testified at hearings for the approval of disposers, says, I'm in buildings every day overlooking the garbage/chute systems in the buildings. Although we don't sell them, disposers can get rid of 50 percent of the rotting waste and infinitely improve the quality of life. It makes things more pleasant. For management, the maintenance workers have to spend less time cleaning up the mess that the rotting waste makes. Garbage chutes are revolting and if you can eliminate the waste through other measures it is an improvement on the quality of life.

In addition to citing a minimal impact on the city's sewage system, the DEP's study also mentions that other cities such as Boston and Philadelphia haven't had any problems in their older buildings. Virtually everywhere else in the country people use garbage disposers, says Ilyse Fink, spokesperson for the Department of Buildings. Now New York will join the club. According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers in Washington, D.C., more than 42 million American homes have disposers. Fink also added that the DEP and the Department of Buildings will continue to monitor the installation and usage of the disposers to make sure they will not harm the environment or the city's sewage system.

One of the most verbalized arguments against disposer usage is that the large number of multi-family dwellings in New York w ffb ould increase the amount of waste going through the sewage system, making it work harder than it is normally used to. But the DEP has concluded that even in a worse case scenario only 38 percent of households will be using disposers by the year 2035. And, while water consumption will increase as a result of garbage disposer usage, it will only be by one gallon per household per day. The DEP also noted that the impact of additional solid waste being diverted into the city's sanitary system would have a minimal impact on water quality.