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What sanitary products are safe for your toilet?


Subject:   What sanitary products are safe to flush in your toilet?

In the last few weeks,  chaos has been the norm in the world of toilet paper and the supply of the product that everyone in the USA takes for granted.   But in some cases, family and friends may be out of stock and you have had to get them some of your personal reserve.    And in some extreme situations, people use  other sanitary products in the bath room and this can in many cases lead to problems.  

Toilet paper is designed to easily break up when flushed.    The bath tissue we produce at Mercury Paper breaks up very easily in a normal flush cycle.   If you use our bath tissue, your septic system stays happy.   When you run out and use paper towel, napkins, facial tissue or wet wipes—things get more risky in terms of plumbing and septic function.  
 A simple test for the ability of tissue to break up or flush is shown  in the following pictures.   It is simple to perform and makes a great way to quickly find out if your alternative bath tissue is a potential problem.   I use a pint glass jar and it is filled a little over half way with water.   Add your sample and shake vigorous.   Shake ten times and bath tissue will break up and the other products that have a wet strength nature will not.   I used 6 sheets of 1  ply bath for one test and  4 sheets of 3 ply bath for a second test  and both samples performed well.   The fibers are separated and no large pieces remain and these material will flush easily.   

The kitchen towel and facial tissue we produced in the USA  does have wet strength properties.   When fully wetted, paper towels can retain 25 to 30% of their original dry strength and facial tissues can retain from 15 to 20% of their original dry strength.    The wet strength and the increased size of each sheet when compared to bath tissue is enough of a change to cause some issues with plugging of the pipes.   Let’s look at towel and facial tissue in the same test as the bath tissue.  I used one sheet of house brand kitchen towel (torn in half)  and  2 facial tissues (2ply) for the tests. . 

Kitchen Towel 
Facial Tissue 
Neither the towel or facial tissue break up like the bath tissue.    Bath tissue will break into fibers or small pieces and will perform  as designed.    Towel, napkins, facial tissue and wet swipes do not readily break up. Wet wipes are notorious for plumbing stoppages.

How can this benefit you?   If you or someone you know has to resort to using non bath tissue products in the toilet, this simple test may save some problems down the road.  If you have to flush wet strength products, try to reduce the sheet sizes and reduce the total amount used per trip and flush some additional times to keep the plumbing moving.    We will get through this chaos, but try not to cause additional problems by using non flushable paper products. 

This is a little PSA I worked up for the people in my new tissue plant.   We convert jumbo rolls of towel, bath tissue and facial tissues into the rolls and boxes in your house here at Mercury Paper.    We also make materials for commercial wash rooms.   We are really busy now  and we trying to maximize everything we do to get material back on the shelf in your local stores.   

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