[neilv]

I have repeated, traumatic, first-hand experience with this: food waste accumulates in building pipe bends and joints and such, causing blockages and follow-on effects worse than one would guess.

And the disposal, and myths about what's good to put down the pipes, means a lot of people put that food waste down there.

I don't know the original reason for the adoption of disposals, but smells like it could be corporate lobbying to create a market for a product:

> In many cities in the United States in the 1930s and the 1940s, the municipal sewage system had regulations prohibiting placing food waste (garbage) into the system.[5] InSinkErator spent considerable effort, and was highly successful in convincing many localities to rescind these prohibitions.[6]