Here to all of you who said these weird methods. According to Moen as well as their sources via the EPA.gov, I've come to spread the truth.

Ice doesn't sharpen the blades as "there are no sharp blades in the disposal. Instead, disposals have small impellers that grate organic waste into small particles".

Another one is "Lemons help to alleviate stale food odors, with repeated use, the acidity of the fruit can eventually damage the metal inside of your machine. Instead, use ample amounts of water when using your disposal to fully flush out any remaining waste particles, keeping your unit from smelling badly." Lemons are a similar acidity level to vinegar and I would never leave vinegar sitting in the garbage disposal.

If your garbage disposal is dirty or smells, then you might have a clog in the drain line following your disposal, your p-trap is improperly set up, or your dishwasher's "high loop" could also be set up incorrectly.

https://www.moen.com/press-room/a...posalmyths

I've done this, the citrus makes it smell nice at least. Other methods include ice, baking soda and/or salt to do some scrubbing.

In fact if you look up the SDS for this stuff [thdstatic.com], here is what it's made of:

Baking soda: 40-50%
Citric acid: 30-40%
Sodium lauryl sulfate: 5-9%
and a bunch of stuff 7% or less including fragrance and sodium percarbonate @ 2-7%

So what do these all do?

Baking soda, duh.
Citric acid is akin to what you'd get out of a lemon, etc
sodium lauryl sulfate is a surfactant/sudsing agent, you'd find that in most consumer soaps
sodium percarbonate is the active ingredient in oxiclean

To me that says you could buy all of the above in powder form, work out the ratios (just use a bit of dish soap for the SLS) and basically have the same thing.

Each tab is 44g, or about 1.55 oz, for about $0.80.

Baking soda is ~ $0.20/oz (in bulk)
Citric acid is ~ $0.25/oz
Sodium Percarbonate is ~ $0.30/oz

A homemade concoction of the tab would cost about $0.34 for the equivalent of (1) tab. Bonus points if you already have this stuff laying around (as I do). You can generally do much better on the bulk prices if you buy local, all of these chemicals should be carried by a homebrew shop.

To be so damn confidently wrong.