Baby wipes, paper towels, nappies – these are just amongst a large number of things that people flush down their toilets daily, without realising that they could be causing a lot of problems to their drains.
A blocked drain can be extremely inconvenient, especially for those who are too busy to wait around for someone to come and fix it. So why risk causing a clog in your drain?
As a company who specialises in providing solutions for drainage issues, including blocked drains Sheffield residents rely on, we have seen an awful lot of things that have been accidently, or purposely, flushed down the toilet, that really shouldn’t have been.
It’s become clear to us as professionals, that many people simply do not know what should and shouldn’t be flushed. For that reason, we have put together a list of all the things that you should avoid flushing.
- Dental Floss
With dental floss being so small, a lot people mistakenly think that they can flush it down the toilet. This is a mistake as floss isn’t biodegradable, and can cause a lot of problems when there has been quite a lot of it flushed together. It will wrap itself around other objects in your pipeline, and any minor clogs will soon become bigger ones.
You should just put it straight into your bin!
- Paper Towel/Kitchen Roll
Paper towel and kitchen roll are both larger and thicker than your average piece of toilet roll, and there is no easier way of finding this out but when attempting to flush it down your toilet.
They don’t break down in the same way as toilet roll and will cause a massive blockage in your drains.
- Cat Litter
We can see why a lot of people would think it was okay to put their cats waste down their toilet – it’s just a little bit of urine right? Unfortunately, cat litter contains clay and sand, which are two things that should never be flushed.
And what many people don’t know is that cat waste contains toxins and parasites that are dangerous to be in your drain system! So when you are cleaning your kitty’s litter train, put it in the bin or properly recycle it.
- Medication
Clogs aren’t the main issue when flushing medication – it’s the damage it can do to our water supply that is the problem.
You may feel like you are doing the right thing by flushing unwanted medication down the toilet, so that it can’t get into the hands of unwanted people. However, it can cause a lot of problems – contamination of groundwater supplies and terrible effects on wildlife downstream. Sewage systems don’t remove medication, therefore they get released straight into rivers, lakes and oceans.
Your local pharmacy will be able to dispose of them in a better way for you.
Other things you shouldn’t flush include:
- Hair
- Tampons/Pads
- Grease/Oil/Fat
- Band Aids
- Cigarette buts
- Cotton wool/Balls
Basically, all you should be flushing down the toilet is everything created by your body’s digestive system and toilet paper. Everything else should just be disposed of in a different, environmentally friendly way.
If you have drainage problems and you’re looking for an affordable solution – we have got you covered.
Here at Inspect-A-Drain, we are drainage experts with years of experience in providing solutions for blocked drains. So if you need help with your drains, we recommend contacting us for professional help.
You can give us a call on 01335 360879 and a member of our staff will be happy to help you out.