In a perfect world, we’d be able to eat all of the food we made so that nothing would ever get wasted. That’s the goal of many environmental and scientific groups, but it’s unfortunately something that we’ve still found difficult to achieve. Homeowners who have spoiled or uneaten food may want to flush it down the toilet to keep it from forming a rotten mess in the trash. While it’s safe to use a designated garbage disposal attached to a kitchen sink, these four examples show why it’s never a good idea to take unused food into the bathroom.
1. Food Can Easily Clog A Toilet
Relatively narrow pipes are installed on the bottom of most toilets to carry everything away that’s flushed down them. Waste products usually aren’t an issue for these, but food is thick enough to stop up the drain to an almost ridiculous degree. Oily foods in particular can cause grease deposits to form underneath your toilet, which would have to be cleared out by a professional plumber once they adhere to the side of your sewage pipes.
2. Flush Pressure Might Not Be Enough To Clear It Out
Even if the food you’re flushing down the toilet doesn’t clog it, you could still run into trouble if your toilet can’t generate a sufficient amount of force to actually get the food into the sewage pipe. Newer toilets are somewhat weaker than older models because strong flush mechanisms have a tendency to waste a great deal of water. Heavy food might never go down because of this change. Due to these mechanical changes, plumbers who have to service toilets should look through an online replacement part store so they can get exactly the right pieces for the job. Homeowners can alleviate the problem by never trying to put grains or starches into their toilet bowls.
3. Kitchen Leftovers Can Cause Wastewater Problems
Forcing food down a toilet is universally frowned upon because of the fact that it can back wastewater treatment lines up. Bacteria love to break down human food, so they can grow out of control on sewage that has kitchen waste in it. Once they start to multiply, these parasites could actually start to become a public health hazard that sewage treatment experts have to deal with. Rotting food left in untreated sewage may even start to attract rodents.
4. Bad Odors May Result From Food Waste
Toilets smell bad enough without flushing anything unusual down them. Food scraps get very smelly as they break down. If they’re inside of your sewage line, then these odors can often come right back up into your bathroom. Once you have a significant amount of rotting food inside of a pipe, it can be almost impossible to get rid of the said odor.
While your toilet might seem like a convenient place to dispose of extra household waste, doing so could lead to many annoying problems in the future so it’s best to avoid it at all costs. So the next time you need to dispose of food, do it through the proper channels that don’t involve the toilet.