Having a toilet that won’t flush might seem like a minor inconvenience. However, in a washroom environment, it could even have health and safety implications if the environment is a restaurant, school or medical facility, whereby you must provide toilet facilities by law. Furthermore, fixing the problem can be costly, especially if it’s a regular occurrence.
The average person flushes a toilet 5 times a day. In a busy commercial washroom, this figure will likely be multiplied. Like all toilets, washroom toilets are built to withstand regular use. However, problems will set in if they are used incorrectly. One of the biggest causes of toilets blocking or overflowing is due to the wrong items being flushed down them, which then affects the overall plumbing system as a result.
As leading installers of commercial washrooms across the UK, we want to ensure our clients and any other building owners get the most out of their washroom experience. Here is our guide on what not to flush down the toilet, along with how to maintain your washroom to tell you more.
What Can You Flush Down The Toilet?
Toilets are designed to dispose of human waste, along with toilet paper which will start to disintegrate when it comes into contact with water. There is no simpler way to say that toilets, your plumbing system or the wider water waste network is not designed for anything else.
What Shouldn’t You Flush Down The Toilet?
As mentioned, anything that is not human waste or toilet paper should not be disposed of down the toilet. Otherwise, it will block the toilet and have the potential to create pollution or similar negative environmental causes.
Some examples of what not to flush down the toilet include:
- Sanitary products
- Wet wipes
- Paper towels
- Medication
- Hair
- Dental floss
- Nappies
- Q-Tips
- Cigarettes
- Chewing gum
- Cooking grease
- Food
- Concrete/building materials
While any of the above items can cause a huge problem for your toilets and wider drainage system, wet wipes are a particularly notable culprit of blocked toilets. Not only are 11 billion wet wipes used every year in Britain, but they are also responsible for 90% of all sewer blockages.
So if you want fewer blocked toilets and even lower water bills, it’s time to ditch the wipes or at least place them in the bin if you have to use them. Be aware that many wet wipes are also labelled as ‘flushable’ when they are not, which is why they are the subject of many campaigns to remove them from the shelves.
What Facilities Managers Can Do to Reduce Blockage Incidents
Signage and user education reduce blockage frequency but cannot eliminate it entirely in a high-use commercial washroom. The specification of the washroom itself plays a significant role in how resilient it is to misuse and how quickly problems are identified and resolved.
Sanitary bin provision: Every female and gender neutral cubicle should have a clearly labelled sanitary bin. This is both a practical blockage prevention measure and, in many commercial settings, a legal requirement under duty of care obligations. Bins should be emptied regularly by an approved contractor rather than via general waste streams, which have their own regulatory requirements around sanitary waste disposal.
General waste bins within cubicles: A small general waste bin inside each cubicle significantly reduces the likelihood of non-flushable items entering the toilet. This is particularly important in school washrooms and public facilities where the user base is less predictable.
Toilet paper specification: In high traffic commercial washrooms, the grade of toilet paper matters. Thicker multi-ply domestic-style paper takes longer to break down than standard commercial tissue and increases the load on drainage systems when volumes are high. A facilities manager specifying consumables for a busy site should factor in drainage performance alongside cost per sheet.
Regular maintenance checks: Appoint a member of staff or a contracted facilities manager to conduct regular washroom checks, including a visual inspection of toilet function. Doing so will help ensure that blockages are caught early before they become a full drain-down or plumber callout. A check log also provides documentation if drainage issues become a recurring problem that points toward an underlying plumbing fault rather than user behaviour.
Consider the drainage specification on older sites: In buildings where washrooms have not been refurbished in many years, recurring blockages are sometimes a symptom of drainage pipework that was not designed for current usage levels or that has degraded over time. If blockages are a persistent problem despite good signage and bin provision, it is worth having the drainage configuration reviewed as part of a broader washroom assessment.
UK Washroom Installers
Are you interested in getting a brand-new washroom installed for your building? Inspired Washrooms installs commercial washrooms across the UK.
From colourful washrooms full of personality to sleek styles to reflect a corporate environment - we have a washroom solution for you. We can also offer plenty of advice on how to maintain your washroom, whether you’re currently dealing with recurring blocked toilets or any other issue.
Please get in touch on 0115 811 4242 and our friendly team will be in touch.