If you have felt compassion or mercy from man, know that it is H'shem using him as a messenger.
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Shemittah produce is sanctified. It must be used productively, and not destroyed, misused, or wasted. Although having kedushas Shevi’is around the house may sound scary, the truth is that its guidelines mostly involve using foods in their regular ways, and being careful about how scraps and other leftovers are disposed of. The coming articles will discuss many of the basic issues to be aware of when dealing with Shemittah produce.
Other than food, Shemittah sanctity imbues many products made from plants grown in Eretz Yisrael. This includes plants grown for animal food, for lamp-lighting oil, to make natural dyes or cleansing agents, as well as fragrant flowers and spices. These items, as well, must be used and disposed of in a manner consistent with their sanctity.
Scraps and Leftovers I
Sanctified Shemittah food may not be thrown directly in the trashcan, even when it will not be eaten. Putting it there will cause this food to become mixed with the other garbage, for example old foods, which will make the Shemittah food spoil faster. This violates the prohibition against ruining edible Shemittah food.
What may be done, however, is wrap the Shemittah food by itself, for example in a plastic bag, to ensure that it will not come in direct contact with other garbage. It may be then put in the trashcan like this.
Some people have a separate trashcan for Shemittah, often called a pach Shemittah. One of the reasons for this is that they feel it is disrespectful to put Shemittah food in the regular trashcan, even when, as described above, it is wrapped. Even people who use a pach Shemittah must make sure that the scraps or leftovers they are discarding now do not become mixed with the older Shemittah foods already inside. For this reason they wrap the foods before putting them there, as well.