These items are not for flushing and if you do not have your garbage bin in your toilet, or near the door, you might as well think of placing one. Trash bin is a very cheap and useful stuff for your toilet and will not cost that much, but, having a clog toilet is really a headache and will be costly if there will be some serious damage in the future.
1. Chewing gum – gums never dissolved in water and the worse thing is that, it will adhere to the other flushable items to create the clog. Wrap this in the paper and then toss it in your trash.
2. Diapers, paper towels and sanitary napkins – just think about it, because these stuffs are created for water absorption and not to break apart within it. Dispose all these items in your trash for a lesser issue.
3. Fish, snakes and little critters – the flushing of live animals down your toilet is not just inhumane, but it is also a stupid thing to do. Find an institution if you have any unwanted pets in your home. You are not just giving your pets other families to live with them, but you are also giving them the opportunity to live and not be killed. About the dead animals, there is no way that they are going to crumble in your toilet water and the chance of making clog is likely to happen. Give them the decent “burial” that they deserve in either of a public animal cemetery (if there is any) or your backyard is their safest place to be.
4. Food – there are some that will argue that food had been biodegradable, and really it is. But this will lodge in plumbing then will make that stubborn clog while it is decomposing. Do not flush it down your toilet.
5. Grease – this may be liquid when it goes in your pipes, but the moment it cools down, it solidifies and makes a powerful clog. It will need an expert to take out this type of blockage.
6. Illegal drugs or Medication – toilet water can’t destroy an active ingredient illegal drugs or medication. What you toss within a commode had to be removed from the water just in order to safely recycle it. It will only mean that the local water treatment facilities need to invest in an equipment and technology to do this.
7. Swabs and cotton balls – the items are not really going to liquefy in water. Instead, they will clog the toilet, particularly the swabs, which will simply lodge in pipes then make the logjam.
To be free from the old medicines, take them to the DEA-sponsored collection places. The exception to it would be those drugs that an FDA placed on the medication lists. The drugs may be lethal to citizens and the pets and thus must be flushed down your toilet.
The bottom line here is that the toilet had been invented to dispose the human waste. By using it with any other purposes will not just damage the plumbing, but it will also pollute the water supply of the community. Flush smart.