Community chest jams due to flushing

11 | 01 | 21
| Advices for you

The daily rush and lack of awareness leads some people to throw objects such as: wet intimate hygiene wipes, make-up removal discs and even debris down in the toilet.  Incivism leftover in society, it harms the planet and morover, literally speaking costs a lot.

It is true that when you throw something in the toilet it disappears from your sight. Unfortunately, it is at this point that you begin to build a conflict in the homeowner's community and, as we shall see, you punish yourself with totally unnecessary expenses.

Let's consider the problems slowly, the waste you flush down the toilet and that you so gently 'disappear' will still be in the environment. An eloquent case is that of the wet wipes, whose synthetic fibres take more than 100 years to degrade and contaminate the ecosystem with microplastics that... They will come back to meet your blood via the fish you eat.

 Apart from the environmental and health damage there are two additional very powerful arguments:

Firstly, let's be honest, the action of throwing objects in a nearby bin and not in the toilet is not uncomfortable and the extra effort it represents is zero compared to doing the wrong thing. In our firm we try to put ourselves in everyone's shoes. It is true that in case of having a functional diversity, it does represent a great effort, although in this case you have three options to install the trash can you need: think about the place within your reach due to its height and proximity to put the object, buy it online, or ask someone else to help you get it.

Secondly, between the action of throwing things into the toilet and doing the same in a cheap model of conical bin of 5.19 euros the price difference is enormous... in favour of the bin.

Let's see why. It would seem that flushing things down the toilet costs zero, whereas the bin costs 5.19€. Nothing could be further from the truth! The accumulation of the thrown objects will block the pit -as you can see in the picture that ilustrates this article-, the jam will be sure to occur in days, months or years will have to be repaired and such action costs 3,000 euros to the community of owners. Even if we talk about a large community of 100 neighbors, quite unusual in the big city, it comes to 30 euros per person, about six times the 5.19 euros of the indicated trash can! 

In addition, there is the not too remote possibility of affecting the public sewage system or sewage treatment plants.

The improper use of wet wipes in the neighbourhood communities poses a double risk to these:

 Risk of clogging in the building's chambers

As we explained, some neighbors confuse the toilet with the trash can. More seriously, when we renovate the house, some masons use the toilet to flush debris, dramatically speeding up the clogging process. Also, solvents and similar products that are corrosive should not be thrown away.

Risk of sanction by the City Council

Some Spanish cities such as Madrid and Valencia are already implementing severe measures to curb these behaviours and have started to carry out inspections in the communities of owners. Penalties for throwing wet wipes in the toilet range from 750 to 3,000 euros depending on the amount of damage caused. The solution to this serious problem can only be found by making society aware of the dangers of flushing this type of waste into the toilet.

 
In a very simple and cheap way we can all do our bit to save the planet, preserve our budget and relationships in owners community. Is easier than never to do the right thing.