Which is better for the environment, and WHY?

Question

Which is more friendly to Mother Earth: thowing toilet paper in the garbage, or flushing it down the toilet? Letting water run hot from the tap before filling a pot to boil or letting the stove heat it up? And let me know WHY please

Answer 1

The best thing for the Earth is for you to do your duty in the back yard and bury it the way a dog or cat does. No wasted water and the ground gets fertilized.

Don't let your tap water run you are wasting energy. Then heat it with a microwave. A microwave is very energy efficient.

Answer 2

toilet paper doesn't make a lot of difference.

hot or cold water depends on how much water you have to waste before you get hot water.  electric heating on the stove loses, probably a bit less than 1/4 of the energy.  gas heating on the stove loses more.  however, 1/4 over 3 minutes is different from 1/4 over 6 minutes.  personally, when i'm saving, i use the faucet that's closest to the hot water tank, which is not in the kitchen.

btw, the contention that hot water heaters waste energy is true and not.  they do waste energy.  just not nearly as much as other means of heating water.

Answer 3

As far as the toilet paper, it doesn't matter to the environment, because it will go to the landfill either way. Waste water has to be treated and all the solid waste must be removed, so when the toilet paper gets to the waste water treatment facility it has to be removed and shipped to the landfill. That goes for anything you put down any drain at your house. I try to avoid putting anything down the drain.

It is more energy efficient to put cold water in the pot and heat it on the stove. A couple tips, put a lid on it and put it on a the right sized burner. The flames or coils should be completely underneath the pot. When it comes to a boil, the flame or burner should be turned down until the water is just at a boil. Two reasons this is more effecient 1- it saves the water that you would waste getting the hot water to the sink. 2- you have taken several gallons from the water heater,(what you have in the pot, plus all the water in the line going from the heater to the sink) so you will be heating more water, and you will still need to heat the water in the pot.

Answer 4

Down the toilet.  The water is going to be treated for waste anyways, so a little dissolved TP won't make any difference.

I'd say boiling cold water.  Traditional water heaters are notoriously inefficient.

Answer 5

flush tp - it degrades faster

how about a holding tank for water so it will warm up to room temp before the hot water heater or even the tankless heater- less energy input

Answer 6

im not an expert but id guess that flushing it down the toilet because it just degrades in water and then gets filtered out (i dont know what then happens with it)

And letting it run from the tap because water will never run out it just gets filtered and re released back into the cycle boiling it wastes precious fossil fuels of which we have little.

Answer 7

In the case of toilet paper, it doesn't matter. Its designed to break down rapidly and thus poses no problems for the environment.

The best case scenario for hot water is whats known as an instant hot water system. Its very popular in europe and actually saves those that put them in a ton of money over a conventional hot water heater.