--- title: Clogged Sink? 10 Things You Should Never Put Down the Drain description: Whether you have a garbage disposal or not, there are certain substances that should be properly disposed of instead of washed away. canonical: https://time.com/4650233/clogged-sink-drain/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-26T21:47:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:08.163Z article:section: Health og:title: 10 Things You Should Never Put Down the Drain og:description: Save yourself from calling the plumber og:url: https://time.com/4650233/clogged-sink-drain/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Things You Should Never Put Down the Drain twitter:description: Save yourself from calling the plumber twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 10 Things You Should Never Put Down the Drain > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [FWx Editors](https://time.com/author/food-wine-2/) ## FWx Editors Jan 26, 2017 9:47 PM UTC by [FWx Editors](https://time.com/author/food-wine-2/) ## FWx Editors Jan 26, 2017 9:47 PM UTC A town in Mississippi is dealing with a sticky problem: when a local bakery washed off its equipment, [cookie dough clogged up the pipes](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/food/cookie-dough-clog-mississippi) in some areas. Now feels like an opportune moment for a reminder of just what should and should not go down the drain. Whether you have a garbage disposal or not, there are certain substances that should be properly disposed of instead of washed away. If you’re not a fan of stopped-up pipes or costly plumber bills, take a moment to refresh yourself on these troublesome clog culprits and water polluters.  ### **Cooking oil** Oils are a major contributor to clogs and mix with other debris to create sludge (ew!). This also includes mayonnaise and salad dressings. ### **Butter and margarine** Especially when melted, butter and margarine can congeal and build up over time creating water resistant barriers. ### **Grease and other fats** Like oils, leftover fats or grease from cooking bacon or other meats can congeal, blocking drains and allowing other debris to cling onto the inside of pipes. ### **Egg shells** The shells are hard on disposal blades and the membranes can wrap around the grinding apparatus. Once ground, the tiny bits of shell can compound other blockages. Better to compost than toss out. ### **Coffee grounds** Since they’re not completely water soluble, when grounds mix with oil or grease already coating the pipes, you’ve got a real mess on your hands. Grounds should best be disposed of in the trash or, better yet, composted. ### **Pasta** Noodles will continue to expand with more exposure to water each time you run the faucet and the sticky semolina flour can gum up the pipes or fill the disposal trap. ### **Rice** Rice grains can easily slip down the drain, but once there will absorb more water and swell. ### **Flour** Flour + water = basically glue. You get the picture. ### **Produce stickers** They fall off easily in the sink while washing, but the plastic and adhesive stickers are rarely water soluble and can block screens and filters in treatment plants down the line. ### **Medication** While there’s no real danger to your drain or pipes per se, the addition of pharmaceuticals into the water is no good for humans or animals. There are programs that let you dispose of unused medicine properly and safely, otherwise they’re best to go in the trash, sealed. _This_ [_article_](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/food/what-causes-clogs) _originally appeared on_ [_FoodandWine.com_](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4650233/clogged-sink-drain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4650233/clogged-sink-drain/"},"headline":"10 Things You Should Never Put Down the Drain","datePublished":"2017-01-26T21:47:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:08.163Z","description":"Save yourself from calling the plumber","url":"https://time.com/4650233/clogged-sink-drain/","keywords":["Food & Drink","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"FWx Editors"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/food-drink/","name":"Food & Drink"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4650233/clogged-sink-drain/","name":"10 Things You Should Never Put Down the Drain"}}]}] ```