Your toilet flush may handle a lot of natural waste, but it isn’t designed to handle anything else. The best way to increase the longevity of your toilets and avoid annoying plumbing issues is to keep all other waste and trash away from your toilet.
There are many things that should never ever flush down the toilet. Take a look at the worst things to go down a toilet. Maybe it’s time for some new rules around your house.
1. Diapers
Just because there’s poop in it, doesn’t mean it belongs in the toilet. Diapers are made from toxic plastic that is designed to expand when it comes in contact with water. If you flush it down the drain, it will instantly be caught in the u-bend pipe line, and cause a terrible blockage.
2. Tissues Paper
The materials used to make tissues and similar products do not dissolve easily and are far more likely to clog your toilet.
3. Anything Made of Cotton
This includes cotton balls, Q-tips, cotton swabs, and any other similar product. Cotton is excellent at absorbing water, but it doesn’t break down easily.
4. Prescription Medication
Many people think they are doing a safe thing, keeping meds out of the wrong hands by flushing them in the toilet, but it is actually very dangerous. These drugs contaminate groundwater supplies and can have terrible effects on wildlife downstream.
5. Cigarette Butts
Not only do they look nasty when floating in the toilet water, they’re full of toxic chemicals that just end up in the water supply.
6. Paper Towels
Paper towels are extremely wasteful, and reusable napkins are much better. However, if you do use paper towels, know that they’re not designed to break down in water. Flushing them can cause big problems.
7. Any Type of Plastic
It doesn’t matter if it’s packaging plastic or a band-aid, you can’t flush plastics down the toilet. Plastic doesn’t dissolve and can cause many problems in your pipes after a toilet flush.
8. Dental Floss
Yes, even small items like dental floss can cause trouble for your toilet. It doesn’t dissolve and can bundle around other objects to form larger clogs.
9. Fats, Oil And Grease
Cooking fats should never go in the drain or garbage disposal. It seems like a liquid when it’s hot, but as soon as this grease hits the drain, it cools and becomes pipe-clogging wax.
10. Food
Any type of food is off limits, no matter how soft it may be. The same is true of any leftover pieces orbones that you want to get rid of. These belong in neither your pipes nor your garbage disposal. Throw them in the trash or compost.
Have Clean Bathrooms!