5 Things to Stop Flushing Down your Toilet & Drains Now… And Save $$$!

Various factors contribute to blocked toilets & drains and many of them are avoidable.

Preventing severe water damage, a clogged toilet or drain, and heavy plumbing bills is as easy as monitoring what goes down the dunny, shower, or sink.

These 5 things DO NOT belong in your toilet or drains and will cause big problems if you flush them

Public Service Announcement First: Don’t flush your pets down the toilet!

Think that’s common knowledge? Think again. When Sydney Water released its list of strange things flushed down the drain, we were shocked. Are people really putting the family fish in the bowl and pressing the handle? Apparently so!

It inspired us to cover 5 items that should never be flushed down the toilet. Water damage, clogged toilets, and broken pipes can cost you thousands to fix, so be sure to never flush:

Wet Wipes

Wet wipes are not biodegradable. We repeat: wet wipes are not biodegradable. According to Sydney Water, 25% of people flush them thinking they’ll break down. That is not the truth.

Wet wipes do not break down like toilet paper and easily lead to blockages in your pipes or in the city’s sewer system. According to their stats, 75% of blockages are caused by these disposable cloths. You could easily cost yourself $1,000 or more in bills and hurt Mother Nature when you put them in the toilet. Put them in the rubbish instead.

Fun Fact: Did you know that 500 tonnes of wet wipes are removed from Sydney’s water system each year?

Cooking Grease

Drains are pretty much all the same. If you can’t pour something down the sink, you can’t pour it into your toilet (for the most part). Sydneysiders pour fat, oil, and cooking grease in the toilet thinking it’ll wash away, wrong! Ever heard of a “fatberg”, that’s when the grease clumps together and blocks the flow of water. Use a large plastic container and dispose of grease the right way.

Cigarette Butts

We aren’t here to tell you whether or not you should smoke in your own home, but we will say that cigarette butts should never be flushed down the toilet. We aren’t sure why you’re smoking in the toilet anyway! Some people think they’re doing the right thing by flushing it down the drain rather than tossing it on the ground and stomping it out, but butts won’t break down and will eventually lead to blockages, pollution, and big plumbing bills. Use an ashtray and a rubbish bin.

Sanitary and Other Personal Items

Just because something is made from cotton doesn’t mean it belongs down the drain. Pads, tampons, condoms, and any other personal items of that nature are not meant to be flushed. In fact, some might say it’s an epidemic. Part of the reason is how common the products are and another is that most people don’t know that they are designed to be flushed. No one knows for sure how long they take to biodegrade, but we do know that plumbers from Sydney to San Antonio get called out frequently to fix pipes blocked by these culprits.

Dental Floss

Dental floss is harmless, right, wrong! It is not biodegradable. Its stringy nature means it’ll clump up and cause major blockages over time. It will even do a number on the environment since it won’t break down. When it’s flushed, it will wrap around other materials in the toilet and cause them to clump as well.

Avoiding thousands of dollars in bills can be as simple as not flushing these 5 things down the toilet. As drain pros in Sydney, we’ve seen a lot of crazy things in the pipes that don’t belong. Contact Curl Curl Plumbing if you ever need help unclogging a drain before it gets out of hand!

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