This Friday (November 19th) is UN World Toilet Day, a day to celebrate toilets and raise awareness of the 3.6 billion people worldwide living without access to safely managed sanitation. To mark the day, the Think Before You Flush campaign are asking you to value your toilet. Let’s look after our toilets and environment by only flushing the 3 P’s: pee, poo and paper, and putting everything else in the bin.
To launch the sixth year of the campaign, Clean Coasts and Irish Water are inviting the public to join the celebration of World Toilet Day. Think Before You Flush is a public awareness campaign operated by Clean Coasts in partnership with Irish Water. The campaign addresses the issue of flushing unsuitable items down the toilet and highlights the consequences: blockages in our wastewater network and treatment plants; surface water overflows; and sewage-related litter on our beaches and in our oceans, damaging our marine environment.
Recent research has found that one in four adults (24%) regularly admit to flushing items down the toilet that are known to cause blockages, causing detrimental effects on the wastewater network and the marine environment. Let’s value our toilets and look after our environment by only flushing the 3 P’s: pee, poo and paper. To celebrate World Toilet Day, Think Before You Flush are giving away a year’s supply of sustainable toilet paper. To enter, pledge to Think Before You Flush by heading to www.thinkbeforeyouflush.org.
A fatberg formed in a sewer in Dublin comprising wet wipes and fats, oils and greases (FOGs)
Speaking about the campaign, Sinead McCoy, Coastal Communities Manager, Clean Coasts said: There are still so many people across the world that don’t have access to proper sanitation, so for UN World Toilet Day we are asking people of to re-evaluate their flushing behaviour, respect your toilet and Think Before You Flush. Only flush the 3 P’s – pee, paper and poo – down the loo, and pop all other items into the bin. As when other items are flushed they cause issues for our wastewater system and can have a harmful impact on our natural environment.
Talking about the size and scale of the problem associated with flushing the wrong things down the toilet, Tom Cuddy, Irish Water said: “Every day people flush thousands of sanitary items such as wet wipes and cotton buds down the toilet instead of simply putting them in the bin. This causes blockages in our network, pumping stations and wastewater treatment plants. We clear approximately 2,000 blockages from our wastewater network every month.
Tom continued: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Clean Coasts to deliver this important campaign together. We would like to thank the public for their ongoing support in the ‘Think Before You Flush’ campaign and together with Clean Coasts shine a light on the importance of World Toilet Day.”
