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Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

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Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#51

Post by joecool1029 »

soperj wrote: post #48
joecool1029 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Encountered it in Canada in the maritimes. Anywhere on the coast there were places that just had a pipe going straight into the ocean. Cafes, restaurants, you name it. There were even portable toilets set up with the pipes so they never had to be pumped. I'm guessing they don't want to see tons of toilet paper floating in the ocean I guess, but excrement is not a problem? Maybe someone else has some better insight, f…

Victoria BC dumps right in the ocean too, and there's no one who saves their tp for the dump.

The only guess I have is that Victoria uses sewage pumps somewhere in their system that shoot it into the sewer. The maritime systems are literally just a pipe so maybe more prone to clogging?

Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#52

Post by neutronicus »

Jach wrote: post #40

Tried a Japanese toilet, I like the combination of spray + paper. Spraying alone would be gross, I'll take the paper alone over the spray alone (Japan seems to agree at least with public toilets that don't have sprays). It's just like your hands not being clean until you dry them. But really any method that doesn't use soap is leaving you dirty until you can shower. What I don't get is why anyone wants to take cleanl…

That's not an area of your body that you should be washing with soap very often. It's a mucous membrane, and if you soap those up they get dry and irritated.

My doctor told me this when I complained of itching and irritation, and following his advice finally got me some much-needed relief.

Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#53

Post by m_mueller »

esaym wrote: post #45
sergiotapia wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A0RHSJO/ref=oh_aui_deta... $35 and you can install it in about 5 minutes flat. It's terrific, can't go back to TP ever.

The water that comes out of my tap is about 43*F right now so no thanks....

Japanese washlets heat it up, as well as your seat. Including temperature and pressure control. Pretty awesome, I wonder why everyone else thought around 1970 that toilets are good enough now.

Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#54

Post by yeahsure »

dingo_bat wrote: post #35
usaphp wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But when you use water - don’t you get your hands dirty? At least with paper you have paper to do all the work instead of your fingers?

You can wash your hands with a nice antibacterial soap. It's easy and very clean.

Isn't every soap antibacterial?

Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#55

Post by nugi »

kyrra wrote: post #32
thomastjeffery wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bad idea to flush those. They don't degrade, and end up blocking sewers and ruin septic systems.

There are flushable versions. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Huggies-Pull-Ups-Big-Kid-Flushabl...

Not even a little bit.

Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#56

Post by nugi »

usaphp wrote: post #33
thomastjeffery wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bad idea to flush those. They don't degrade, and end up blocking sewers and ruin septic systems.

There are flushable wipes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N288ZXE/

I see you have never lived outside the city. Those will ruin any septic system in a hurry. Not great for city sewage. Where do yiu think wipes go when you flush them? Away? Someone has to deal with it eventually.

Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#57

Post by djsumdog »

bootlooped wrote: post #20
oh_sigh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the signs say don't flush anything down, they usually mean anything other than toilet paper and bodily excretions. Flushing tampons, pads, condoms, whatever the hell else is in your pocket is common and that is what those signs are discouraging. Toilet paper is designed to basically disintegrate once it gets wet, so it is not causing any problems in plumbing

In Korea there are buildings that still insist you don't flush toilet paper. They usually say specifically toilet paper. My position is that it would not be dangerous to ignore this, firstly, because like you stated toilet paper is very weak when wet, and secondly, the impression that I got was that it was mostly an old-fashioned idea.

It's a bad idea. I'm not sure about Korea specifically, but a lot of developing nations have old/narrow pipes and they don't have the waste treatment facilities to deal with toilet paper. They might not have the money to install advanced filtering or even activated charcoal. Often times the waste water is just diluted and dumped into oceans or lakes.

I encounter the "toilet paper in the trash can" signs first in Moldova. The Nistru river has high levels of cholera, so it makes sense they simply do not have advanced treatment facilities.

Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#58

Post by nugi »

yeahsure wrote: post #54
dingo_bat wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can wash your hands with a nice antibacterial soap. It's easy and very clean.

Isn't every soap antibacterial?

Yup. But some have extra stuff that poisons you and your environment too marketed to rubes as 'antibacterial'

Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#59

Post by djsumdog »

schoen wrote: post #3

Something I find quite strange is how South American countries pervasively discourage people from flushing used toilet paper (instead preferring to have a little wastebasket to collect it and later throw it away in the trash). The usual account of the reason for this is that the plumbing can't handle it -- which you also hear about some old buildings in the U.S. OK, but this norm persists even in buildings that were…

Same thing in Moldova. I was told it was the old plumbing that candle handle large amounts of toilet paper, but I have a feeling it might also be antiquated treatment facilities that can't deal with paper breakdown either.

Re: Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe (2009)

#60

Post by nugi »

autokad wrote: post #2

> "But as our economy continues to circle the drain, will Americans part with their beloved toilet paper in order to adopt more money-saving measures? Or will we keep flushing our cash away?" written in 2009, so I guess we know that yeah, we will continue using toilet paper. Though more are using flush-able wipes

Please do not flush 'flushable' wipes. It is a lie!
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