My answer would be… there are ZERO plumbers in Taiwan.
There is no trade school for this occupation. If you have a plumbing issue… you basically ask a guy who knows a guy… who might know a guy who did some construction work or sells pipes. He didnt even know what a drain gun is.
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For your general info…in the countryside where I live there are no water treatment pipes. Our waste water runs into a successive water tank system and the little water which makes it to last tank is released into the ground. For those houses which have a water canal nearby the water is released into the canal. We do not put toilet paper into the toilet.
Well, the same water canals that farmers use for their crops is used to carry away waste water from houses. Also water runoff from farm fields contain pesticides which build up until finally reaching the sea…farmers near the end of the canal can have many farmland’s pesticide in the water they use for their plants. Not being an expert in this field I do not the level of potential danger.
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The other day a plumber came to our home to fix something, and my wife randomly asked him if toilet paper should or shouldn’t be flushed.
The guy answered that of course it should be flushed, and that it would be dirty not to flush it!
I was like 
:discodance: :discodance: :discodance:
[quote=“aphasiac”][quote=“amarbaines”]It’s 2015, and we are living in a country that ranks between roughly 15 and 45 on the international surveys that matter. Clearly, there is an appropriate sewage and waste disposal system in place that is capable of handling our unmentionables.
[/quote]
Actually there isn’t - 82% of Taiwanese sewage gets flushed untreated into rivers. The government tells people not to flush because huge slicks of paper floating in the waterways would be messy, difficult to clean up and would create a disgusting sight for the general public (raw sh*t mixes with river water so is easier to hide).
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003416999
Edit: Actually this story is from 2008; it would be nice to know which areas of Taiwan have proper sewage treatment systems now, and therefore can handle paper flushing. I guess this is what the OP was asking, must be some information on this somehwhere?[/quote]
Tell you what, if I see a piece of tissue paper stuck in a turd floating down the river, my least concern from the health hazard point of view is actually the paper. The tissues here are so thin that if you immerse them in water, they disintegrate (I mean, they already do that sometimes while you’re wiping and you get a brown finger, I never had that problem in Europe). Besides, cellulose is not an environmental hazard. Crap is.
I asked this to people who build homes, in big cities (KHH, TPE) has modern sewage plants, but old habits do not go away. I just wonder why it takes so long to change.
When I lived in Taoyuan, most of the TP being sold wasn’t dissolvable, but some was. Now I’m in Taipei, and I’m thoroughly enjoying shitting like a human being again.
Well done you! Hallelujah praise the lord!
Jeez! Wouldn’t toilets smell if those used papers remain in the bin?
BTW: There are a several threads on this issue that should be merged. This has been an ongoing discussion on Forumosa since at least 2002.
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20 story office building, shared bathroom with 6 other companies on the same floor. 2 bathroom stalls, 3 urinals. 
ofcourse… no toilet paper ever… and sanitation appears to be mopping the floor with water and than a quick water wipe of the toilet. So if you come in the morning, and gotta drop deuce… its a completely wet toilet seat to wipe off first.
No A/C, open window… so mosquitoes on patrol.
So recently management put up flyers instructing the typical “do not flush toilet paper down.” With a picture of toilet paper floating in the toilet. whatever.
Now it has gotten worse… people are not flushing the toilets.
Literally anytime, I gotta go in… I have to bear witness to some of the nastiest logs, floaters, and chunks of who knows what in the toilets… yes plural. Both goddamn toilets.
No toilet paper floating just bricks of human feces. So its not like the toilets cant flush… they just dont want to?
Anyone feel like writing in mandarin something to protest this behavior. Is this a common practice… wtf. :fume:
Indeed, this issue has been discussed many times. Its very sad that habits are so hard to change. Referring to the article, I would be surprised that toilet paper in Taiwan is made any differently than anywhere else in the world where its flushed down the toilet as a matter of course.
If I try flushing the toilet with toilet paper at work, it clogs up the toilet. The water pressure doesn’t seem strong enough to flush it. Plus the opening seems to contribute to the toilet paper bunching up into a ball. Sometimes it stays in the toilet for a second flush to finish and sometimes it clogs it.
Don’t use it, neatly sidestepping the dilemma and causing the maximum possible offence to both cultures.
I’d guess not many Americans would be comfortable with that, though, since they seem to have great difficulty transcending early potty training re squat toilets, etc.
It helps if you’ve spent time in the Middle East or those Asian countries (not all of them Muslim) where the left hand wash wipe is the norm, and toilet paper may not be.
Just install hoses in the toilets like they do in some SE Asia countries. Problem solved and it gets your ass really clean. Or install Japanese bidets.
Simple solution. Shower after you poop. You save the environment by not wasting toilet paper.
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“Government willing to promote water-soluble toilet”: I dunno, to me that seems like a pretty bad idea, one that would take “Flush it and forget it” to a dangerous new level.
Or is there more to the headline that I’m not seeing?
Or have a nice little hose next to every toilet. I came across that quite a lot in Malaysia and Indonesia. No need to use toilet paper at all.
I can’t believe how wildly inaccurate Taiwan’s English media can be on such major social tissues.