Toilet plumbing in Taiwan

Hi, I got into a heated argument with a Taiwan native who told me that used toilet paper must not be thrown into the toilets in Taiwan, as the plumbing in Taiwan can not handle toilet paper. I thought this was strange and very unhygienic not to throw used toilet paper down the toilet after taking a dump. :ponder:

Who knows. We flush it, although it took a while to persuade my wife this was OK. When the in-laws visit they’re always concerned that we don’t have a garbage can for this. My opinion based on, um, nothing: many years ago, it was probably true that toilet paper shouldn’t be flushed, but now it doesn’t matter: the pipes can handle it. However, lots of other things should not be flushed (tampons, paper towels, I believe facial tissue as well).

Many restaurants do have signs saying not to flush paper down the toilet, so maybe I’m wrong. When I go somewhere with convenient garbage cans I’ll use them instead. (Convenient = I don’t need to touch surfaces that other people’s used toilet paper has touched. And having provided that definition, I may never think of convenience stores in the same way again.)

I have a nagging suspicion that the “don’t flush toilet paper” custom is akin to the “don’t turn right on red” rule: flushing toilet paper, and turning right on red, CAN be fine in the right circumstances, but if either is suddenly allowed then chaos will ensue because people don’t understand the concept of being reasonable.

Other threads have worked through this issue:
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtop … 21&t=49629
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtop … f=8&t=1349 (Wow - that’s a decade back, and 11 pages long!)

You’ve been here for, what, a decade or so and hadn’t heard about this before? :eh:

I’ve been throwing toilet paper down the toilet in Taiwan since the 1970s and simply never came into contact with the “never throw toilet paper into the toilet” crowd until recently. It was like discovering an alien species as far as i was concerned. Sure, there were signs at some toilets but it just never registered in my mind.

Apparently the plumbers are allowed to install small pipes to carry the post-digested material out to the river. Building inspectors apparently have nothing against it. Even in recently constructed buildings, I regularly see signs in the toilet stalls advising me to deposit my wipe in the basket not not flush it. I always flush.

Is there an “a-san” that collects all the crapped tissues and recycles them? I hope they’re treated differently than general recyclables, but I doubt it. Nice way to spread diseases.

I say flush it and if it causes a problem down the line they can fix it. That way Taiwan will progress and become an advanced country.

The habit of using a trash can is disgusting and a supreme embarrassment to Taiwan.

I’ve researched reports in the media about this because I find it a fascinating issue of disgusting cultural habits and I can’t accept the EPA claims or anything supporting the filthy habit.

The Tainan government tried to make progress on the issue http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/tainan/2008/07/08/164436/Tainan-government.htm then the EPA rejected the proposal http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/07/10/2003416999

Disgusting.

I remember when I went to NYC in 2005… the toilets there always had a problem with the flushing of toilet paper as well…doesn’t sound like an advanced country to me!?

Well they must have fixed the problem because I can’t find any reports about it. I found plenty about the problem of people from lesser developed countries NOT flushing their filthy bum wipe when visiting New York.

It seems there are 2 different issues in Taiwan: whether the paper will get clogged in the plumbing, and if the paper gets properly treated in a sewage treatment system or flows untreated directly into waterways (rivers). I find it hard to believe the most plumbing can not handle the paper without clogging. But the sewage treatment (or lack of) is another matter.

So the government of Tainan, which considers it’s system quite capable of handling it urges the residents to flush, then the national EPA tells people not to flush. The national EPA spends its energy wailing about people flushing bum wipe while allowing untreated sewage to flow into the local waterways: can anyone see a problem here?

If there really is a problem: fix it.

I lived with septic systems most of my life and we always flushed the paper. I doubt the system is really the issue here. If you find toilet paper in the waterway, follow it to the source and whack them with a hefty fine. Isn’t that the EPA’s job?

Perhaps it’s because the EPA makes money off of all those garbage bags they sell so they want people to throw more stuff in the trash. I’ve flushed for a long time and never had any plumbing problem. If it can’t handle toilet paper, it can’t handle crap either. Hell I have even flushed kitty litter into old toilets without any issue…

I remember a while ago the government tried to get people to flush them so that they don’t end up in the trash, you can’t recycle toilet papers.

[quote=“Charlie Phillips”]I say flush it and if it causes a problem down the line they can fix it. That way Taiwan will progress and become an advanced country.

The habit of using a trash can is disgusting and a supreme embarrassment to Taiwan.

I’ve researched reports in the media about this because I find it a fascinating issue of disgusting cultural habits and I can’t accept the EPA claims or anything supporting the filthy habit.

The Tainan government tried to make progress on the issue http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/Tainan/2008/07/08/164436/Tainan-government.htm then the EPA rejected the proposal http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/07/10/2003416999

Disgusting.[/quote]

Yes, I hate it when entering a toilet and looking brownie right in the face and it smell like a pigsty … and another habbit of women in Taiwan … stand/squat on the seat rim, don’t sit down … :loco:

[quote=“Taiwan Luthiers”]Perhaps it’s because the EPA makes money off of all those garbage bags they sell so they want people to throw more stuff in the trash. I’ve flushed for a long time and never had any plumbing problem. If it can’t handle toilet paper, it can’t handle crap either. Hell I have even flushed kitty litter into old toilets without any issue…

I remember a while ago the government tried to get people to flush them so that they don’t end up in the trash, you can’t recycle toilet papers.[/quote]

When it can handle large poop sausages, it can handle paper …

[quote=“Charlie Phillips”]The habit of using a trash can is disgusting and a supreme embarrassment to Taiwan.
I’ve researched reports in the media about this because I find it a fascinating issue of disgusting cultural habits and I can’t accept the EPA claims or anything supporting the filthy habit.[/quote]
And flushing it unprocessed into the nearest river, along with some disgusting cocktail of industrial effluent, is somehow less filthy? :eh:

The western snootiness about their advanced thrones never ceases to amaze me. I agree that a stinking container full of tissue paper isn’t a great idea, but that doesn’t mean the only other option is chucking it into your drinking-water source.

Anyway, OP, it is supposedly something to do with small-diameter pipes and certain types of toilet paper that tend to block them up. I think these are becoming a lot less common. Since I’ve been here, the tissue-paper bin has all but disappeared from public view.

Not only do I flush the tissues (napkins, really) I wipe with, at work I also toss in the course paper towels I use to protect my delicate tushie from the seat.

It’s apparently because of the narrow pipes. I found report online that basically said the more expensive thicker papers cause more clogging and that the best was the Costco kirkland brand for houses with thin pipes.

I want to do this. I really do. But dumping clay into the toilet seems like a particularly bad idea.

[quote=“finley”] filthy? :eh:

The western snootiness about their advanced thrones never ceases to amaze me. I agree that a stinking container full of tissue paper isn’t a great idea, but that doesn’t mean the only other option is chucking it into your drinking-water source.

Anyway, OP, it is supposedly something to do with small-diameter pipes and certain types of toilet paper that tend to block them up. I think these are becoming a lot less common. Since I’ve been here, the tissue-paper bin has all but disappeared from public view.[/quote]

I am 100 times more concerned about the other stuff going into the drinking water source. If that’s the issue with flushing TP then there are much bigger issues than the TP.

Well, quite. I was just pointing out that there’s not much difference between a river full of poo and a river full of poo plus toilet paper. And if anyone thinks that just doesn’t happen, you should take a stroll beside the Danshui estuary - paying special attention to the sewage channel which (without any apparent irony) has been named by local worthies as “The Golden River”, or something similar.

This. There is a problem due to the flushing of the wrong type of paper or things like tampons or wipes and the crappy toilets in some places. If this wasn’t a problem then you wouldn’t see the signs in restaurants sometimes.

In terms of the environment it would be interesting to know which system is better. Hygienically flushing it should be better obviously.