THE BASICS
When you flip the switch on your garbage disposal, blades start to spin to pulverize the food and debris you have thrown into it. Once pulverized enough, these articles flow downstream through your plumbing system as liquidized waste.  Since the blades of your garbage disposal are very fast and strong, an odor problem may arise when you try to grind up some item that gets stuck against the walls of the disposal. If allowed to remain in the disposal long enough (a few days), you’ll have quite an unpleasant odor on your hands.

CLEANING A STINKY GARBAGE DISPOSAL
Once odor has invaded, the simplest way to rid your garbage disposal of that odor is to fill the disposal with soap and water and flush it out.  To accomplish this task, stop up the sink where your disposal is located, fill your sink with enough soapy water to fill up the disposal, and then release the stopper while turning on your garbage disposal to have the disposal’s submerged blades spin the mixture around and hopefully dislodge the odor-producing gunk in your disposal.  If this is a successful procedure, you’ll notice an immediate improvement in the odor.

IF SOAP AND WATER DON’T WORK
If soap and water don’t clear the odor, try the same flushing procedure and use baking soda and vinegar (½ cup of baking soda plus ½ cup of vinegar added to water) to partially fill your sink.  Immediately following the last gurgle of the water going down the disposal, follow the mixture with boiling water. 

If the above measures are unsuccessful, contact experienced licensed plumber for a guaranteed solution to that garbage disposal clog or odor problem.

Blog Post provided by:  Marietta Garbage Disposal Plumbing service