Is it better for the environment to dispose of a used tissue in the toilet (without flushing) or the trash?

Question

When I have a cold, I often use toilet paper to blow my nose. Is it more environmentally friendly to toss the used toilet paper into the trash, where it must be hauled to the garbage dump, or throw it in the toilet, where it must be processed at the waste treatment facility? I obviously would *not* waste water by flushing a single tissue but would wait to flush until the next time I used the toilet.

I know that one tissue isn't going to make an appreciable difference, so you can scale the question up if that helps: Which is better: 1,000 pounds of mostly-dissolved paper having to go through waste treatment or 1,000 pounds of paper having to be hauled to the garbage dump?

Answer 1

i would say flush it....they recycle water there and process it so it can be used again...at the dump it desenagrates and adds to the mountain we filthy humans have piled up.

Answer 2

are you a level 6 vegan or level 5? hehe. way too deep bro.

Answer 3

you forget another thing....1000 pounds + 100 pounds of c**p and human effluent in land fills attracting ever more bugs and degrading in the sun into much much much worser gasses

Answer 4

good question... I'm just going to guess and say trowing away tissue's in the trash is better (especially with a plastic bag of course). best not pollute the water no matter how it is used.

Answer 5

Well, I used to have a bad habit at that also, but you should never throw anything into your toilet (except natural waste). . . It is bad for your sewage, and costs a fortune to fix your stuff if it gets clogged.  To be processed and separated at a waste treatment facility also costs lots of money, electicity, and many harmful chemicals are put into the vats and pollute not only our soil in that area, but they mix and go up into the air, which affects many people around the area, and globally over time. . . By the way, there is more than that found in these places, such as syringes and some other really gross stuff (it is a public health risk). . .

The best solutions are still old fashioned ones in my opinion. . . buy nice hankerchiefs to use and just wash them by hand before putting them in the laundry. . .This also goes for diapers and wipes (for babies and adults), please buy cloth and keep the tons of mess out of our landfills :)

Hope this answers your question :)

Answer 6

It is best to put it in the toilet (and wait to flush) ...toilet tissue is made to break down as it goes through the system so by the time it gets to the treatment center there isn't much left.

As for the dump it would take forever for it to break down.  I read this amazing story once about a Enviro College class somewhere in in Arizona (I think or New Mexico middle of nowhere) that part  of their final project was to go to the dump and dig.  They were finding newspapers and boxes from the 50s because at the dump, more trash is thrown on more trash so that it never actually broke down  put ended up perfectly preserving the items. Where if you threw the same items in a compost heap and actually composted it would breakdown.

So your 1000 pounds of tissues would sit there a lot longer.  Deep and very interesting question I like IT!!