To Flush or Not to Flush

For my entire life (a good couple of years to be sure) I’ve heard the warnings not to flush anything down the toilet except toilet paper. I remember back in the ’70s (I think it was) when feminine products were touted as being “flushable;” however, it wasn’t too long after that advertising campaign that notion was put to rest. Those items were not flushable after all.

So I pretty much took the advice to mean that toilet paper and toilet seat covers were flushable. I mean, think about it: you put that protection onto the toilet before you sit down. Why would you ever want to touch it again?

While doing some research on this story (yes, I actually did look up some information on toilet etiquette) I discovered a few bits of information. First, seat covers are not always necessary. When a commode looks clean and well taken care of, using a paper shield is not necessarily needed. But when it doesn’t look clean, grab that seat cover and place it.

Second, if you have any open cuts that would make contact with the seat, use a cover for protection. After all, it may look clean but you don’t want to come into contact with any gross bacteria.

Third, I learned that (gasp!) I’ve been using the seat cover incorrectly these past few decades. You know the paper flap created by the cutout of the seat? Well, I’ve been placing it so it sits on the back of the toilet seat. My research recommends that it be placed at the front of the opening rather than (excuse the pun) the rear. However, it did say that placing it backward or forward really doesn’t matter as long as the seat is covered.

I came to ponder this entire situation because I made a stop at a ladies room at a local restaurant and on the toilet seat cover dispenser was a sticker that read “Only flush toilet paper please” causing me to give a second thought to the disposability (is that a word? or maybe flushability is a better choice) of paper seat covers.

The only caveat I could find was that if the plumbing system is archaic don’t flush anything but toilet paper.

One last thing: in a Time magazine article I read it stated “Research showed that the average cellphone is coated with roughly 10 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat. Keys, shoelaces, purses and many other everyday items also tend to be germ-ridden – at least compared to public toilet seats, most of which are cleaned regularly.”

So when looking at possible eww factors, you can ignore the toilet and concentrate on items more commonly found – in fact, you might be holding one right now.

Ick.