City tells its citizens that flushing is best

By Ralph Jennings  |   2008-7-9  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

TAINAN City in south Taiwan is urging people to flush toilet paper away instead of throwing it in the trash in a bid to reduce some 340 tonnes of stinky waste generated every day, local officials said yesterday.

"An old habit is to throw toilet paper in the trash can beside the toilet, which causes a major stink that's bad for public sanitation," said the city's Environmental Protection Bureau Director Chang Hwang-jen. "Japanese and Western visitors who come to Taiwan find this habit off-putting," she added.

Taiwan's plumbing can now handle toilet paper without clogging the pipes, the city told its 764,000 citizens at a news conference.

Toilet sitters in Taiwan customarily put paper in the trash because of pipe backup worries. Clogged pipes in Tainan are caused by the flushing of other objects, such as toothbrushes, Chang said.

Putting toilet paper in the trash also costs the city US$19.7 million a year to treat.