10 Things You Never Want To Flush Down The Toilet
Did you know there are certain things you should never flush down the toilet? Doing so can create unwanted plumbing expenses and aggravation. Plus, you can further damage the environment and our water supply when you flush down these harmful things.
The plumbing industry in the USA has a market cap of approximately 106 billion dollars. One of the top ten reasons we need a plumber’s services is slow or clogged drains. With that said, to avoid the unnecessary expense, there are certain things you should never flush down the toilet.
Why We Should Care About What We Flush Down The Toilet
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Of course, regardless if you own your home or not, there are certain things we should never flush down the toilet. If you think about it, our careless actions cause harm to our homes and planet alike.
Additionally, our plumbing pipes are typically about four inches in diameter and not as large as we might think. However, this means they can’t handle many things we flush down the toilet. What’s even grosser is an overflowing toilet. We sprint to grab that toilet bowl plunger, and often we end up calling a plumber.
Speaking of toilet plungers, did you know this Toilet Plunger and Bowl Brush Combo Set is our favorite? We have one in every bathroom in our home. OK, so why should we can what we flush down the toilet? Primarily, we don’t want the headache and expense of calling a plumber, but there’s more to it than that reason.
Recently, a good friend completed destroyed her septic system because someone in her home flushed diapers down the bowel. While that seems hard to fathom, it’s true. They had to replace the system, and the cost was unimaginable aside from the inconvenience.
More so, the damage to our environment and water supply is unsurmountable and continues to wreak havoc. After all, we all care for our planet and our environment, but we continue to flush down the toilet things we shouldn’t.
Let’s take a deep dive into ten things we should never flush down the toilet and why.
1 – Baby Diapers And Sanitary Wipes
When it comes to baby diapers and wipes, you should always avoid flushing them down the toilet. Both of these products are not water-soluble and don’t break down after flushing.
Nowadays, everyone loves using adult sanitary wipes for hygiene and rightfully to make us feel fresh and clean. Many brands claim you can flush them, but in reality, you shouldn’t. Flushing these products can destroy your septic and continue to destroy the environment.
Instead, we recommend using Pristine Toilet Paper Spray. This product made its debut on Shark Tank, and everyone loves it! You can Spray Pristine 3-5 times onto folded toilet paper to create an instant wet wipe! Plus, it’s flushable and free of harsh chemicals.
Alternatively, you can use these Stall Mates: Flushable individually wrapped wipes. Now that companies know about the dangers of flushing wipes, they invented flushable, septic, and sewer safe wipes. Wipes like these are great for travel, too, and safe to finally flush down your toilet!
2 – You Should Never Flush Down The Toilet Any Food
As you know, we use toilets to dispose of food we already digested and not the other way around. As we chew, our stomach acid breaks down food. And the bacteria in our stomach does a fine job of completing the process.
Food that has not gone through the complicated process doesn’t break down when flushed and can take a long time to break down. Food can clog pipes and wreak havoc on your septic. Plus, doing so can clog your sewer line and back raw sewage right into your home.
3 – Bleach And Harmful Chemicals
As we use bleach for cleaning our bathrooms, it might seem counterintuitive to say not to flush down the toilet bleach products. However, there are strong and corrosive bleaches that can damage your pipes. Bleach and other harmful chemicals can also be too harsh for a septic system.
It would be best if you also were wary of putting any harmful or potent liquids down your toilet, such as alcohol. As you visit this site, you’ll find out that if you pour leftover alcohol in the toilet, it will just cause some insects or bacteria to grow. Why don’t you put that alcohol to better use? You’ll learn more about the many benefits of alcohol if you do some additional research as well.
4 – Never Flush Hair Down The Toilet
As you know, after cleaning your bathroom drains, hairballs can wreak havoc and cause massive backups. Therefore, it’s imperative not to throw hair down the toilet. Hair doesn’t dissolve, and if it did, we would go bald after bathing or swimming. It makes sense to never dispose of hair and flush it down the toilet.
Instead, after cleaning out hair from your drains, place it right into the trash. This way, you will prevent clogs and the need for plumbing services.
5 – Tampons And Sanitary Pads
Anyone with kids in the house can share stories about things flushed down toilets and the expense that followed. When it comes to tampons and sanitary pads, the same holds true. Sanitary products absorb water like a magnet and can create a clog as soon as you flush.
6 – Cooking Oils
As odd as it might seem, people do flush oil down their toilets. After cooking, we end up with excess cooking oil. As some don’t want to wash it down the kitchen drain, some do flush it down the toilet. Oil and grease will solidify when they cool and can become rock-hard, causing clogs and even breaking pipes as they solidify.
Instead, when you have your cooking oil ready, dump it in the garbage on top of some paper towels. Or, after your oil cools down, place it in a recyclable container, and when ready, you can safely throw it away.
More so, you can use a Cooking Oil Storage Can Container to store and strain your cooking oil. Using this will help manage your oil and have it ready to throw away when done.
7 – Plastics Or Rubber Products
We thought nothing about flushing items like condoms, dental floss, band-aids, and gum right down the drain in the past. Moreover, these items don’t break down and will cause clogs. Try never to flush down the bowl anything that looks like it might not break down and cause trouble.
Always place a lovely wastepaper basket in your bathrooms and remind everyone to use it when disposing. Placing a wastepaper basket will stand as a reminder not to flush things down the bowl too. More so, get one with a lid that is far more hygienic also.
This Huaqinglian Plastic Gap Slim Oval Rectangle Wastepaper Basket has a slim design and fits perfectly right next to your toilet bowl. And it features two inner barrels, one for dry garbage, one for wet waste. Plus, it’s very ECO-friendly.
8 – Medicine And Other Hazardous Substances
Some medicines do not break down fast or adequately enough in water alone and can cause blockages and clogging. More so if you dump an entire bottle down at once.
However, the core reason to not flush medication down the toilet is that these potent substances make their way through the sanitation process and into the drinking water supply.
More so, this means we can experience exposure in small doses of any medications flushed. Furthermore, studies from the FDA show us how to dispose of medications properly. If you must flush, comply with the guidelines beforehand.
Additional studies found the medications flushed down the toilet can eventually get into lakes and streams, harming fish, other wildlife, and the environment. Always take proper care when disposing of any medications, especially when children live in the home.
You can also consider using the Pill Terminator Safe Pill Disposal Container. This disposal container helps you get rid of expired prescription medicines. Plus, it’s child safe and an environmentally safe way for pill disposal.
9 – Cotton Rounds And Makeup Wipes
Everyone loves makeup wipes, and much like sanitary wipes, you never flush them down the toilet. That also holds for cotton rounds as well. Even though these products seem small and soft enough to flush, they aren’t and will clog your toilet.
10 – Cigarette Butts
Ask anyone who flushed a cigarette butt about how resistantly they refuse to flush down the bowl. But with some persistence, these butts can and do flush. Doing so can create damage to our water system and harm wildlife as well.
For example, when done with your butts, place them inside a wet paper towel and put them in the garbage. Using a wet paper towel ensures you won’t set the house on fire either.
Flush Down The Toilet Carefully
We hope you could glean some useful information about what not to flush down your bowel today. Always keep our environment in mind when disposing of anything in your home. After all, in addition to our health, we want our planet healthy as well.
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