13 Common Things You Should NEVER Flush Down The Toilet

Avoid the embarrassment and costly price of having to call a plumber to fix your clogged toilet, by knowing what you should never flush down the toilet in the first place.

It seems many people treat the toilet as a waste disposal unit. Toilets and the pipes connected to them were designed for human waste and toilet paper only.

Common Things You Should Never Flush Down The Toilet

There’s nothing worse than flushing the toilet and having it’s contents back washing back up the toilet. How many of these things have you flushed down the toilet?

Dental Floss – While you may think you can get away with flushing a little bit of floss down the toilet, as floss sits in your pipes it tangles and knots around other matter. The more floss you flush the larger the tangled clump will get.

Grease, Oils & Fats – People often flush this when it is warm or hot. These substances are not water soluble and will eventually cool down and build up on the inside of your pipes, resulting in your pipes becoming smaller in diameter, and more likely to clog up. A better option is to put your unwanted grease, oils & fats into a sealed plastic bag or bottle (once it’s cooled down), and dispose in the rubbish bin.

Band Aids – Band aids are made from plastic, another material that is not biodegradable (will not break-down and dissolve) in the toilet. Band-aids should be disposed of in the rubbish bin.

Medications – Most medications won’t clog the toilet, but will eventually contaminate the water. The water in your toilet eventually ends up in the lakes, rivers and oceans. Sewage systems don’t remove the medication residue from the water.

Disposable Wipes – Some brands of disposable wipes say they are safe to flush on the labeling, when they are NOT actually biodegradable. They do not break down like toilet paper – See Fatberg.

Nappy Liners – Many of these products say they are safe to flush on the labeling, when they are NOT actually biodegradable. They do not break down like toilet paper does.

Tissues – Tissues are designed to be soft, strong and able to absorb some fluid. A tissue will eventually break down in water, but not like toilet paper does. Therefore they are another product that should never be flushed.

Paper Towels – While paper towels do break down in water, it takes a long time for them to completely break down like toilet paper does. Flushing a paper towel down the toilet is a fast way to clog your toilet!

Sanitary Products – While it’s convenient to flush, tampons, pads, and panty liners down the toilet, these products were designed to absorb fluid, so once flushed they will expand in size and clog the drains. See – Tips on how to dispose of Sanitary products at home.

Cotton buds – The cotton bud may break down a little around the soft cotton wool ends, but the rest of the bud is like a stick that won’t dissolve down, as it is usually made from a wax coated plastic. Flushing cotton buds down the toilet, is like flushing a stick that is highly likely to get stuck in concealed areas like the pipes.
Condoms – Most people at some stage have flushed their used condom down the toilet as it’s so convenient. Condoms are not biodegradable so will eventually clog your toilet. See – How to dispose of a used condom.

Hair – Next time your pull the hair out of your hair brush, put it in the rubbish bin. The matted hair from the hair brush (no matter how fine it is), stays in it’s knotted web form as it makes it’s way down the toilet.

Kitty Litter – Most Kitty litter products are designed to adsorb moisture and expands in fluid. Even if you think the litter has already absorbed from the cat’s urine, it can still expand further when flushed. Flsuhing kitty litter is also a health hazard: Cats are possible carriers of a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, which can be found in cat excrement. This can be passed onto humans, and can cause severe health problems in those with an impaired immune system such as pregnant women – Read more.

DEMO – Some Hygiene Products Say They Are Flushable – BUT Are Not!

Many consumers have found out the hard way that many products on the market, particularly hygiene products that state they are flushable and/or biodegradable, in-fact they are not!

To avoid the embarrassment and cost of having a clogged toilet..