Sometimes, I feel guilty emptying vegetative stuff down the sink. Our area’s sewer system is pumping all that stuff into a “well” 2000+ feet below us.
Vegetative stuff creates the sewers version of vegetable oil, which clings to the walls of drainage pipes so problems can cling to it. The EPA has been going after businesses for dumping FOG(fats,oil,grease) into any public sewer system for many years. Every restaurant has to have and maintain a grease interceptor that all their cleaning sinks and floor drains run through. About 8 years ago, the city of Raleigh tried prohibit any new residential sink disposers from being installed or used to replace ones that quit working. After a few months, they had to yank the regulation because of public outcry. Instead they spent several millions more on special utility trucks and a terminal for sucking FOG out of the sewers lines when it backs up.