Toilet Training for Adults
BY FRED CHERNOW
You may need additional training in using
your toilet. By that I mean, “What is safe to flush
and what is not.”
The New York City Department of
Environmental Protection is concerned about
what people are sending down their toilets. The
only item that should go down your bathroom
drain is human waste and toilet paper.
Some of the no-nos include:
1. Facial tissues, make-up removal pads, and
swabs. Unlike toilet paper, facial tissues have
been treated with a chemical binder which
takes time to release and break apart when
flushed. They clog our sewer systems. Makeup
pads and swabs are also formulated to stay
intact. These items belong in the garbage can,
not the toilet.
2. Dental floss. Usually made of nylon or
Teflon they should stay out of your bowl.
Floss tends to wrap around other unbroken
materials producing wads which pumps at
treatment centers cannot tear apart.
3. Medications. Pills and capsules are not
easily filtered and so drugs disposed of in
the toilet end up entering streams, rivers and
lakes. The next time you’re enjoying Brook
Trout or Filet of Sole, you may also be taking
in some of your neighbor’s heart medicine.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducts
“take-back” programs where citizens can
safely and securely dispose of unwanted or
outdated medications in local pharmacies, like
Walgreens and CVS. Last month, the DEA collected
474.5 tons of pharmaceuticals through
this program. Can you imagine if all of this
had been flushed down the toilet?
4. Contact lenses. Anything made of plastic—
no matter how small—must go out via with the
garbage. The lenses do not biodegrade easily
and make their way through a treatment plant,
ending up in the receiving water. Cellophane
or plastic wrappers of toiletries should go in
your bathroom trash can and not the bowl.
5.Disposable wipes. Make sure your wipes
are labeled “flushable.” Others contain rayon
or viscose. Toilet paper will break down in
four minutes. Non-flushable wipes take much
longer to disintegrate and pumps at treatment
plants cannot tear them apart.
IF YOU ARE GUILTY OF FLUSHING ANY OF THESE NO-NO ITEMS YOU ARE NOT COMPLETELY TOILET TRAINED.
PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
888.838.0808 Toll Free 844-44-CARES Florida
38 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ October 2018