Only human waste and toilet paper should be flushed down your toilet. However, our wastewater treatment professionals find a wide variety of items in our sewers and collection facilities, including cell phones, toys, cueballs, and marbles.
The following is a short list of materials that should never be disposed of in kitchen and bathroom sinks, or down your toilet.
Fats, Oils, & Grease (FOG)
Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG) come from meats, butters and margarine, lard, food scraps, sauces, salad dressings, dairy products, and cooking oil. When FOG goes down the drain, it hardens and causes sewer pipes to clog. This can lead to a Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) where raw sewage actually backs up into your home, lawn, neighborhood, and streets.
Please do not pour oil and grease down drains or toilets. Grease is the number one cause of sewer blockages in homes. It cools as it travels through pipes and, over time, the accumulation of FOG can block pipes, contribute to clogs, and, eventually, cause raw sewage to surcharge out of nearby manholes.
The solution: allow fat, oils, and grease to harden in a can or carton and then dispose of it in your garbage.
Pharmaceuticals
Did you know that 70% of us take at least one prescription medication, with 1 in 5 Americans taking as many as 5 different medicines on a consistent basis? Nearly 40% of those prescriptions end up going unused. That amounts to 200 million pounds of stockpiled, unused, and expired pills, syrups, and liquids.
In Wood County, the Wood County Sheriff’s Office has an RX Drug Drop Box Program available to deposit unused unwanted, or expired prescription drugs.
Never flush prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medicines down a toilet or sink. Proper disposal of these substances means you are doing your part to protect our water resources. Please follow FDA guidelines.
Personal Care, Cleaning, and Miscellaneous Items
Unlike toilet paper, which breaks down quickly in water, personal, baby, and cleaning/disinfecting wipes remain intact and tangle into massive clogs that jam pumps and block pipes. Even those labeled “flushable” should not be flushed.
Here’s a list of a few other items that cannot be recycled and should always be disposed of in a trash receptacle:
- Toys, or anything made of plastic, including plastic coffee stirrers
- Paper towels
- Cat litter or animal waste
- Diapers and baby wipes
- Cigarette butts
- Disposable toilet brushes and cleaning/disinfecting wipes
- Tampons and sanitary pads, personal care wipes